Stardust
by FantasyCrest
Summary: 17 years ago in a different Remnant a Huntress disappeared just as new enemies appear. But life adjusts and light shines ever brighter but the darkness will always rise to match it's opposite and now a shooting star has appeared to eyes friendly and not-so to step into the legacies this world has to offer with comrades at his side. OC/AU story. Details/disclaimer inside.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hello readers. Welcome to the new chapter one of Stardust. This may look but for those not in the know the reason this hadn't been updated in so long was due to the fact I was re-writing the chapters for both Stardust and my crossover Shades of Pink. With this I hope the story will look and read better. Remember this is a story for my RWBY OC and is AU meaning it's not part of the canon Remnant. I hope you like this. Reviews welcome. I do not own RWBY in any, way shape, or form. My OC's are my design.**

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Stardust

Chapter 1

Meetings

**Remnant.**

**A world forged by legends; some real and some made up. A world where the moon falls apart and comes back together as common as its phases. A place where those who dwell in the dark will strike down the people living in the light. A light that gifts its people with life, ingenuity, and many other things.**

**There is a gift birthed from both light and darkness that is around even now, and it is the wrath of nature. This power isn't exclusive to one side or the other. For when one side can make use of power, the other side can just as much or maybe even more than the other.**

**17 Years Ago...**

_In the kingdom of Stronghold there was a city called New Citadel. This city was to be a new settlement in the kingdom to replace the town of Citadel which fell two decades ago. Given the city's status currently it seems that that plan has followed the way of its predecessor._

_Around the city many buildings were on fire. All ranged from houses to skyscrapers; sending plumes of black smoke into the sky. Cars laid overturn, some damaged and many destroyed altogether. As for the people, there were some survivors at least._

"_Did you get the remaining civilians out?" There was a man wearing an army uniform; the accessory on his jacket marking him as a general. The medal shone bright in the evening light. Protruding from his forehead was a set of white deer antlers. He was a Faunas; one of the two dominant races on Remnant also known for having animal features._

_The soldier standing before him, a female human, saluted him, "Yes sir!" She handed the General a slim metal device. He pushed a button on the front of the device observing as it extended itself horizontally. It revealed a clear rectangle bordered by the two halves and two twin lines of metal on the top and bottom. This was a device called a Scroll._

_The General watched as many images, words, and other data appeared on screen. The soldier continued, "All threats have been neutralized and the city is being secured." The General nodded, "And what of our outpost nearby? Do we have anything from them?"_

_The soldier took a breath hesitating, then answered, "The outpost has been destroyed, sir." The General looked up sharply, his eyes almost piercing. The soldier went on with her report, "We sent a few scouts to investigate and the outpost has been horrifically damaged. All the personnel are gone as well."_

_He let out a huff, "That explains how things are so bad here... Those __**things**__ served as the vanguard and when we didn't send aid, in came the Grimm." Pausing for a moment he asked, "Do we know what those…things...are?"_

_The soldier quickly replied, "No, sir."_

_The General shook his head, turned back to the scroll, and pulled up the survivors list. He raised an eyebrow as he spoke aloud, "With this much damage I actually expected less survivors."_

The soldier had a reply ready to this. "That would be the work of the Huntress, sir."

_The General looked at the soldier again, "A Huntress? Here?"_

_The soldier nodded. "Yes, only one. It was thanks to her those civilians managed half as well as they did."_

_He shook his head, "Only one Huntress in this mess? I don't know what to call that; miraculous luck or just bad luck? Maybe... Where is she now?"_

"_She's gone, sir. As soon as we had the civilians in hand she seemed to just vanish."_

_He looked at the female soldier with puzzled expression, "Do we have a name or ID number or anything?"_

"_I'm afraid not, sir. We were only able to get a rough description of her appearance and fighting capabilities." The soldier put a strange expression on her face, "but it seems the survivors have come up with a nickname for her."_

_The General, his attention on the scroll, said vaguely "That being…?"_

"_The Guardian Ghost, sir."_

_Meanwhile, on the far side of the city, atop one of the skyscrapers left somewhat intact a woman stood. Her long hair blowing in the wind as she sighed, "I didn't think he'd be moving so fast. Guess it's time for me to move too."_

_She gently placed her hand on her belly. It had yet to completely form, but she knew that life would soon be there thanks to a talent that was a part of her being._

"_I really shouldn't have been so reckless." She admitted with a strange tone to her voice._

_She sighed and, with a sad air about her, turned and walked over to a metal box with a door for a lid. A locker that stood on the rooftop with her. Taking out a smaller version of a scroll she quickly tapped on it, placing it in the locker._

_She shut the door tapping a few times on the number panel that was built into the locker's door. She watched as rockets, or all things, propelled the locker into the sky. With a sad smile on her face, she took a breath turning towards the horizon. She made a short hop and somehow sank through the roof beneath her feet and out of sight._

_The locker headed onwards on its journey with only three things inside: a round shield, a war hammer, and the scroll she had been tapping on before. On its screen, was a message in bold black letters, the most notable word being "Sorry". _

**Now...**

In times past, before the founding of the kingdoms; before the humans and faunas banded together to fight the Grimm, life had been difficult. Just as difficult as it is in the lands outside the kingdoms. Making life in places like this wasn't impossible. Even in these modern times, it was normal and many who disliked life inside the kingdoms would venture out into these lands.

The world is now closing in on those who call these lands outside the kingdoms home. Life goes on with people finding comfort in each other and other things.

"Dust is of the world. Dust is. Dust is what will ever be. We praise you Absence. We, your humble servants, beseech you…"

In a wasteland outside the kingdom of Stronghold these words are being chanted in unison released into the air.

The voices were coming from a group of tents with wagons and few animals, such as horses.

They were all grouped together gathered in the center of their camp, sitting on the ground. It was a nomadic group which appeared to be praying, or most of them were.

A lone figure strode down a sand dune a look of disgust on his face as he moved. "Must they do that so early in the day? It's bad enough they do it every evening."

The seventeen year old boy shook his head. He had fair skin with brilliant blue hair, his bangs styled going down the left side of his face. He had vibrant orange eyes that seemed to have a translucent quality to them. The boy was dressed in black cloth boots, plain blue jeans with a leather belt, and a gray long sleeve sweater. All looked worn and showed some signs of self-repair. The leather satchel that was slung over his shoulder seemed a little newer than the rest of what he wore.

The young man raised his right hand scratching his head. On his right hand there was a star shaped tattoo with a line protruding from a spot between two of the five points. The line followed from the points on the star went up his arm and spiraled around his forearm before tapering out. The tattoo was the same color as his name.

"Don't let them get to you, Cerise. Today's your special day," he said to himself. Cerise kept walking and soon saw his destination in sight. There were ruins of a village and to those outside the kingdoms; it was something of a meeting place for Traders and information. Even from a distance, he could see signs of activity.

"Guess we lucked out when Uncle said to come here this time around." Cerise said lowly to himself wincing at the thought of the man he'd have to see again later.

_I really can't forget those problems for a second, can I?_ Cerise thought to himself_._

_Still... Even though Uncle asked me to do this, I wonder if it really was the right thing to do. I mean, I wanted to come if only for the chance to see that person again. But Alice…_ Cerise's train of thought broke off when he felt his spine shiver and the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

He was being watched.

The teen stopped short and looked around and then, he heard it. A low growling noise. Cerise ducked as a black, white, and red blur shot overhead and landed in the dirt across from him.

He watched as his attacker turned around facing him again. Snarling and growling, it stared at him with burning red eyes.

Cerise sighed, "This is **SO** how I wanted to spend my morning. Dealing with a Grimm."

The creatures of Grimm have been one, if not, the greatest threat Remnant has ever known. They exist in large numbers all across the planet and came up in a variety of shapes, many known and unknown. Arguably, one might call them the manifestation of darkness itself.

Cerise reached for an object that was tucked into his belt. He pulled out what appeared to be a carved wooden stick and with a snap! the object, it unfolded revealing itself to be a fan. Its inner color a royal purple.

Staring down the Grimm, a type commonly called a Beowolf for its similarity to werewolves known from past stories, he grit his teeth. There were large protruding white claws on all its paws, limbs, and spine, as well as the bony mask which had red markings that resided on its face.

As the Beowolf jumped toward him Cerise fell to the dirt rolling under it. The two somewhat faced each other again, _This encounter's my own fault. Grimm are attracted to negativity and what are my thoughts lately if not negative?_

Taking the fan in his right hand his body began to glow the same color as his tattoo. Cerise made swiped from left to right unleashing a crescent shaped wave of energy the same color as his glow. He made another swiping motion going from lower right to upper left making another one. Cerise's attacks were brought forth from his aura, the manifestation of his spirit and all that it entailed.

The first wave missed as the Beowolf dodged it, but Cerise had expected it. As the second wave struck its target, it yelped as it was cut in half. The Beowolf's body hit the dirt, its form cut in half at the waistline. Looking at the form which was already evaporating into little dark puffs, Cerise said, "A young one. I wonder if there's a whole pack nearby." Looking towards the ruins Cerise began to walk once more catching his breath. Using aura to fight did have a price to pay after all.

Meanwhile, not far away, was a man who had watched Cerise fight with some measure of amusement. "Not bad kid. It wasn't exactly elegant, but it works. I guess." The man looked back over his shoulder towards the remains of the Beowolf pack he had just finished off making sure they were disappearing. Being as stealthy as possible he followed after Cerise.

About half an hour later, Cerise had reached the ruins and was pleased to note that a small group of nomads were still out and about here. Strolling through the area Cerise took care to steer clear of dark robed figures. It took a bit of doing, but Cerise found what he had been sent here by his Uncle to find. A soft blanket of all things, Cerise smiled as he held the thing. It was a nice item, orange in color, and almost ridiculously soft in texture.

_I wonder what Uncle wants this for_, Cerise wondered. His face darkened as he scowled, _I really hope it's not for his cult nonsense. This would be such a waste to use for something like that. _The boy shook his head and blew his hair out of his eyes. _Forget that nonsense, Cerise._ He told himself, _I left that nonsense behind at camp. Now where's-_

Suddenly, angry shouts from nearby broke his musings as he turned in that direction.

"Infidel!"

"Your actions offend the great one!"

"Stop hurting the servants of the Absence!"

"Leave now!"

"Begone heretic!"

Cerise's shoulders drooped and his eyes half closed. He knew he just found what he had been looking for and what he had wanted to avoid. Walking through the ruins quickly, he reached the source of the noises and took cover. He peered carefully around a corner confirming both his suspicions.

The dark robed figures Cerise had spent his time avoiding were clustered together waving fists and a few weapons around. They continued shouting at a small man before them who was cowering on the ground. In front of the man was a blanket with some objects laid on it and there were a few boxes by him.

Cerise let out a breath as he wondered how to help the man. As he stared at the man's attackers, Cerise thought, _It's not like I can just attack them. Word will somehow reach Uncle and then I'll be in trouble. But it's not like I can just abandon him either…_

Cerise stared at the situation, deciding whether to help. As he sat there contemplating, a memory of a female voice echoed in his mind. _Huntsman and Huntresses protect the people, Cerise…  
_  
_That's right, they do Mom,_ Cerise smiled taking out his fan. "Let's go to work, Open Star."

Looking at the scene once more, a thought occurred to him as he continued to smile. Although it was strained a bit, Cerise thought, _The trick to this will be not setting off his wares…  
_  
His tattoo began to glow as he raised his fan and swiped it, sending a shot of energy towards the group. He aimed downward to where it struck the ground with a mild burst sending dirt and dust into the air. Cerise did this twice more, sending the miniature mob into a slight panic. As for their victim, he was frozen in terror at the sudden events.

While the dust cloud was in the air Cerise closed his fan and pointed it towards the cloud. His eyes narrowed and took a breath as he activated his Semblance.

Semblance, a talent a person has. It's part of who they are and what's fueled by aura. The types of Semblances can vary greatly.

His Semblance was something known as a Glyph which takes the form of a ring of light with gaps in it that form symbols and lines. One could do many things with them. They could even change them to get different results, or so Cerise has been told. He didn't have much experience with that yet. Glyphs weren't exactly common, but they weren't rare either.

Cerise took the form of a basic ring with a four holes placed along the top, bottom, left, and right sides. They were shaped like a shooting star. Hence why Cerise called it his personal symbol.

The glyph spun into existence amidst the mob and telekinetically knocked people around spinning out of sight. With a flick of Open Star, another one spun into existence and repeated the pattern. Cerise did it five times in total, but by then the mob was screaming and running away.

"The Absence is here to punish us all!" The group of people yelled as they ran away. Cerise huffed as the dust settled and his tattoos glow died down.

Leaving his hiding spot, Cerise smiled as walked over to the figure that was still frozen in fear. Although he didn't know it, the man from earlier was watching with a smile, "That's…better. I guess. So, you're a glyph user?"

Tucking Open Star away Cerise said to the man he had just rescued, "Are you alright, sir?" His voice knocked the man from his slight trance. The figure flinched as he jumped. Cerise winced a little at that as he reassured the poor fellow, "It's okay. I won't hurt you."

The man paused and looked at Cerise who smiled at him and let out a breath, "Sorry about that."

"It's fine," Cerise answered. He repeated his question, "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay." The man looked over what was on the blanket with a slight grimace seeing all the dirt. "I'm just not sure what happened there, though."

Cerise seeing the dirt now too, laughed a little, "Yeah… sorry about that." The man looked at Cerise with a confused look. Almost as if to say 'why would you be sorry'. He wondered and then caught a glimpse of the tattoo, realizing that it looked familiar. The answer dawned on him.

"Why if it isn't little, Cerise!" The man said happily with a smile. "I haven't seen you in such a long time! You've turned into a fine young man!"

Cerise stared at him plainly, surprised before he chuckled, "Thank you, sir! I'm surprised you remember me. We only met once after all."

"Well, you visiting on your birthday with your mother was one my happier memories here," The man said with a grin. The man's face showed a caring expression, "Now that I think about... You're birthday's today, isn't it? And your Semblance is…"

The man gave an even wider grin, "It's you I have to thank for the rescue isn't it?"

Cerise laughed lightly, "I'm impressed, sir. You do have a good memory and no thanks are necessary. I was happy to help."

The man nodded with a slight frown as Cerise asked, "Are your wares okay?"

The man looked over the blanket and his boxes, "Everything's fine; just jostled and dirty."

Cerise let out a breath, "That's good. I was worried my aura usage would have set them off."

The man's main item that he had for sell or trade was Dust. Dust is a natural energy propellant that comes in four basic types. Much could be done with it like creating new types of Dust; it could even be used in a variety of ways. To trigger Dust's activation all one person, be it human or faunas, had to do was use aura. Hence the reason Cerise was so nervous.

The man turned Cerise and asked, "By the way, is your mother here with you?" Cerise frowned and shook his head. The man frowned at his response, "Is she dead?"

Cerise shrugged, "Just gone."

The man sighed, "I'm sorry."

Cerise replied with a shrug of his shoulders, "It is what it is."

"So did you want to get some Dust from me?" The man looked questioningly at him. Cerise nodded listing off what he was looking for and the amounts he wanted. The man put on a disbelieving tone "Seriously? Why so little?"

Cerise frowned at the question and couldn't help looking in the direction the robed figures had fled. That was all the answers the man needed. "A lot of Shards in your group?"

"Nearly every adult," he sighed confirming the thought. "And my Uncle is one of the preachers."

The man winced at that, "Small portions to keep hidden. Understood." As the man readied Cerise's order he asked, "Those Shards are getting confrontational lately. Aren't they?"

Cerise nodded, "Yeah. They certainly are quite forward about their beliefs and actions. They seem to be in the majority with the human and faunas population out here."

"I know," the man sighed. "Life's difficult enough out here. As it is, with the way things are going, I may head for a kingdom myself. Regardless of how much I dislike things there."

The man held up Cerise's order, handing him several items. Cerise gave the man whatever Lien he had scraped up, "I'd do that myself if I could."

The man observed Cerise as he hid the small parcels on him. The merchant man sighed then perked up a bit as a thought hit him. He quickly dug through one of his boxes and as Cerise turned to leave the man called, "Wait! Here, Cerise!"

The blue haired teen turned back to the merchant and caught what was thrown towards him. It was a clear red stone that was roughly cut. A Dust Burn crystal to be exact. A wide grin on his face, Cerise looked at the man in excitement, "Sir, are you sure about this?"

The man nodded, "Consider it a birthday and a thank you gift."

With a bright smile Cerise waved and said, "Thank you!" Cerise turned tucking the crystal away as he began to walk away from the Merchant.

Sometime later, as day turned into evening, Cerise began to head back to camp. As the sky darkened and the stars began to sparkle, he looked at the moon which had begun to slowly fall apart. Seeing his camp in the distance, there was an orange glow. Cerise sighed reaching into his satchel bringing out a small mirror. He was about to signal his camp so they knew he was the one approaching when he felt eyes on him once again.

Cerise pulled Open Star from its hiding place without hesitation, looking at the area that surrounded him. It was a clear night with every inch of the wasteland lit up by the moon and nothing seemed suspicious. He didn't hear any noises like a growl or a shriek. Nothing that anyone would worry over.

Suddenly, he heard thumping footsteps. Cerise turned and ducked just in time. As Cerise stood facing his latest attacker. He groaned lightly realizing what he was facing.

The creature before him was mostly composed of raw energy and a few physical elements linking it together, giving it some kind of form. It somewhat resembled a lizard and was roughly the size of the Beowulf he had faced earlier today. Rocks made up its face, tail, waist, and claws. Beings like these were called Animate, or Anim for short. They seemed to be composed if inanimate things. They were also the reason Cerise had to deal with those robed figures from earlier in the first place.

Cerise summoned his glyph as the thing began to encircle him. Cerise tracked its movements. Opening Open Star, Cerise made his whole form and glyph glow with his aura. It began to shrink down while Cerise stuck his hand, and Open Star, into the empty center. His aura began to converge on his hand, and with a humming sound his hand and fan became encased in his aura. It elongated down into the air forming a makeshift blade.

Cerise swung at the Anim-lizard as it charged. The creature dodged the attack swiping at him. Cerise raised his left arm as his aura covered it, creating a scraping sound as the claws went over it.

Aura being used to attack and activate Semblances and Dust could also be used to defend like a force field. Cerise used the advantage of the blocked attack and the proximity it created, swinging at the Anim-lizard. He only got the creature's tail which split in two as a piece fell on the ground. The Anim-lizard trotted away and went back to staring at him.

Cerise stared at his foe's twitching tail the creature seemingly unconcerned. He thought fast concerned about attracting others or, possibly, a Grimm's attention. In an instant he came up with an idea. Cerise waited for the thing to charge and, soon enough, it leapt at him. He called a glyph forth once more.

The ring appeared between the two of them as the Anim jumped right into the center of it. It stopped suspended in midair held by nothing. His eyes wide along with his senses felt another energy interacting with his aura. Almost pushing against it. The sensation felt disgusting.

Cerise shook his head charging at the creature, swinging his blade as he hit the oval that made up the creatures waist. Cerise gritted his teeth as he felt the energy he was picking up on intensify. As the blade cleaved right through the stone, Cerise gasped as he felt the energy vanish like a light going out.

As he came to a stop, his glyph disappeared. Cerise watched in confusion, though he was relieved, as the stones hit the dirt. "That was weird," Cerise said aloud, "and lucky I guess?"

"Maybe," The boy tensed as a male voice spoke from behind him, "but that's how these fights go sometimes kid." Cerise spun around sharply, more than ready to swing his blade. He stopped short seeing a bladed weapon a few inches from his own nose.


	2. Chapter 2

Stardust

Chapter 2

Questions Raised

Cerise's thoughts whirled moving at high speed before his mind went blank. He stared at the weapon that was so close to his face. Cerise's hand grew lax, the pink light that made up his sword shattered into sparkles as the energy faded. His fan fell from slack fingers.

The voice from before laughed as the weapon drew back from Cerise's face. He could see that the wielder and speaker were one in the same.

It was a man dressed in black from head to toe. He had short black shaggy hair, caramel skin, and midnight blue eyes. On his left and right cheeks were tattoos in the form of a green diamond. The bladed object turned out to be a bladed chakram. The man smiled, "Don't worry kid. I'm not gonna hurt ya. Name's Ao, and you are?"

Cerise found alertness kind of coming back to him, but weakness too. The aura he'd used coupled with the surprise had weakened him, making his legs shake. He nearly buckled. If Ao hadn't caught him with both hands he would have hit the floor. It was lucky Ao's weapon was already put away.

"You okay, kid?" Ao asked in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Cerise nodded as he answered. He was looking at the ground, still a bit shaky but better than he'd been seconds ago. He reached down to grab Open Star and stopped seeing a glint of metal in the sand. Picking up his weapon and the glinting object, Cerise scowled at what it was. It was a pin; roughly diamond in shape, the upper left side showing protrusions and lines that resembled cracks. It was odd how it ran all over the pin.

Ao, looking at the object raised an eyebrow, "What's that?"

Cerise sighed shaking his head dismissively, "Just a Shard pin."

Ao frowned at the term not recognizing it, but putting that aside he asked, "So, Kid, what's your name? I kinda didn't get it."

Cerise blinked slightly taken aback. He rubbed his head sheepishly, "Sorry. My name's Cerise, Cerise Nebula."

Ao's eyes widened. He said thoughtfully, "Huh."

Cerise looked towards camp and slowly wondered. It was something short of a miracle that no one on watch had come investigating. The boy shook his head, _they're probably getting ready for the nightly prayers_.

He had been distracted from his musings by Ao placing a hand on his shoulder, "Who are your parents, Cerise?"

Cerise looked at Ao curiously before mentally shrugging. "Don't know my dad's name, but my mom's name was Clare."

Suddenly the hand on his shoulder tightened Cerise grimaced in discomfort. Ao said in a stern tone, "That ain't funny, Kid. I knew Clare and she didn't have a son."

In the back of his mind Cerise was at a loss over how this stranger could know his mom. At the same time, he was annoyed over having been called a liar. Cerise wrenched his shoulder away and rose his voice, "I'm not lying. That was my mom's name!"

Clearly the threat Ao had once posed still existed and it wasn't an issue to return to that state. Ao was doubtful, but willing to hear Cerise out and asked, "Then do you have any proof?"

Cerise hesitated for a moment before reaching into his jean pocket. The object in question was an old worn photograph currently folded up. Cerise gingerly unfolded it as Ao looked over intently. "This is..." he paused for a moment, "all I have left of her."

Looking at the photo, Ao's eyes widened. Though only a few would know it, the expression on his face was one of shock. In the photo were two people. One appeared to be a younger version of Cerise and the other one of a woman holding him in her arms. She was tall with long pale hair and skin, her eyes white as well. If it weren't for the outline of the irises one wouldn't even know they were there at all.

Ao's eyes hardened gazing at the image. Pulling out his scroll making Cerise tense up, Ao got a clear image of the picture storing it on the thing. As Ao put the scroll away, he looked back up at Cerise. "Sorry about that." Turning cautiously to the camp nearby, Ao asked, "Is Clare here at camp?"

Cerise put the picture away, "No."

Ao looked at him, "Has she passed on?"

Cerise offered an even simpler reply. "She's just gone." Pulling out his mirror, Cerise signaled the camp it letting them know it was him who was entering camp. Though it took a few moments, he got the reply.

"Mind if I walk with ya, Kid?"

Cerise looked at the man considering him for a moment, "I guess not." The teenager was a bit wary with the anger gone.

As the two walked, although Cerise didn't know the way, Ao's aura flashed for a second. Ao had triggered his semblance and abruptly Cerise's nostrils flared. Finding himself now relaxed, Cerise asked, "So you knew my mom then?"

Ao nodded, "Sure did, Kid. I'm a Huntsman and she and I worked together."

Admiration filled Cerise's face at this new information. He stared at Ao before doubt filled his mind and face then. "But mom said she only did some jobs here and there?"

To this Ao thought, _wow. Way to keep things under wraps, Clare_. Ao looked at Cerise saying, "well clearly she had her secrets."

Cerise met Ao's eyes, unnerved by what he saw in them. He walked on, Ao following a step behind him. Letting a wisp of his aura off his hand, Cerise's nostrils flared again. Ao inwardly smirked.

"So you look troubled Kid. Mind me asking why?"

Cerise looked over his shoulder at the Huntsman opening his mouth to decline answering. Instead he found his thoughts, concerns, and worries spilling out. "Things haven't been good with the group lately," Cerise said surprising himself. "There are more Shards than before and they're getting quite determined in what they want and do."

Ao frowned, "Shards?"

Cerise tossed a skeptical look at Ao. "It's what you call a member of the Crushed."

Ao blinked at this, "You mean those nut jobs preaching about that 'Absence'? And how the Anim are out to punish us all?"

"That's them?" His voice had a questioning tone by the way Ao was sounding and talking about them.

Ao frowned. Though he almost didn't want to know he found himself asking, "There are a lot of them?"

Cerise gave a humorless laugh, "Almost all my group are members and most other groups out here have at some."

Ao frowned, both at the number of people associated and the term "Shard" itself. _We didn't even know the term existed_, Ao thought darkly. Looking at Cerise, Ao thought something else was bothering him, "Anything else?"

Cerise looked over his shoulder and seeing the camp a bit away. "It's the kids in my group or most of them. Anyone fourteen and younger has vanished and their families don't even care."

Ao frown became a thin line. Outside the kingdoms such a thing was not uncommon, but like this... "No one will help?" Ao asked.

Cerise shook his head. "I tried to convince Uncle." At Ao's questioning look Cerise elaborated, "He showed up out of the blue one day. Mom said that he was family and he stayed with us since then. Anyways, he refuses to do anything and forbade me from doing so either."

Ao could see the misery in Cerise's face as he said, "There's nothing you can do? No place that you can go?"

Cerise gave that awful laugh again, "Well, what else is there for me? Go to the kingdoms? Then what? I have nothing." He looked towards camp carefully.

Ao smiled, "Well that may have been true a minute ago, but now it's not."

Cerise turned to Ao, giving him his full attention. Ao explained, "Your mom and I trained at a place called Lighthouse Academy. It's a school dedicated to training Huntsman and Huntresses. I have connections and can probably get you in."

Cerise smiled sadly, "As if I have the skill to get into a place like that."

"Maybe. Maybe not. But you have potential and I'm pretty sure my aid can get you in. The school could easily polish your skills. That's what they're for after all."

Cerise just stared at Ao before looking back at camp with uncertainty.

"Alright, Kid. Later tonight I'm leaving this wasteland for Lighthouse Academy. You can hitch a ride with me if you want; even if you don't head for a kingdom at least. From the sound of things, life there has got to be better than life here at this point. That's for sure!"And just like that Ao was gone.

Cerise turned, heading into camp. He hadn't passed more than a few tents when a figure stepped into view. Cerise looked down and quietly said, "Uncle."

The man in question was wearing a black robe with white trim and was bald, had tanned skin, and gray eyes. "Welcome back, boy. Did you get what I asked for?"

Cerise nodded, taking out the soft orange blanket. His Uncle took it examining it before nodding and turning away. "Excellent! This will make a fine lining for our altar."

Cerise slumped, _of course it's for that_.

Cerise's Uncle looked at him, "Something the matter, boy?"

Cerise tried his best to hide what he was thinking shaking his head. His poker face started to break when his Uncle said, "By the way boy, there was a heretic at the gathering spot today. Some of our followers and Shards from other groups tried to deal with him, but something stopped them... Any idea what it was?"

Cerise felt his mask beginning to slip. Desperate to change the subject, he pulled out the pin he had found earlier and held it out to his Uncle. "Here Uncle; a pin I found today. I figured you'd know what to do with it."

The man reached out taking it and examining it. He nodded once more. "Good." He turned the pin over in his fingers, "To think you'll wear one of these when you're inducted at the upcoming meeting."

Alarms rang in his head as Cerise asked, "Meeting?"

The man nodded, "Yes. In eight months time the Crushed will be gathering and I will have you join the Crushed there."

Cerise cried out his mask finally shattering, "But Uncle Silver I don't want- Ulgh!" Cerise's Uncle Silver grabbed his sweater by the neck hauling him up with one hand to dangle.

Silver growled, "As if I care what you want boy. Those skills your mother honed in you makes you perfect for our cause. You're joining us soon whether you like it or not!" Silver dropped Cerise on the ground and strode off to call the people to gather.

Cerise focused on breathing and calming down. When he did, he bit his lip bringing tears to his eyes. Wiping them away, Cerise got up proceeding to wander through camp. He ignored the people dressed in black or gray tunics and leggings, silver pins glinting on their torsos. He called out, "Alice! Alice, where are you?"

Alice was the name of a little girl in Cerise's group. She hadn't wanted Cerise to leave this morning scared by the recent disappearances, but Cerise had still left. Turning and spotting Alice's parents, he dashed towards them calling, "Mr. Edward! Mrs. Serenity! I can't find Alice anywhere. Do you know where..." Getting closer, Cerise saw that they were dressed like the rest of the camp. Pins included. He felt an abyss open up in his stomach.

As the two of them passed by, Cerise hear them mutter about the nightly prayers getting ready to start. He somehow knew without a doubt that Alice was now gone. He swallowed trying to suppress the bile beginning to rise in his throat. While the two had attended a meeting or two, they weren't members yet, but it appeared that something had changed.

Cerise felt horror flood him. Earlier, Cerise had said nearly everyone in his group was a Shard. Now it was just him. He had said almost everyone age fourteen and under was gone... Now they all were.

He numbly made his way back to his tent stopping and seeing the campfire in the center and the people gathered there. The iron stand that had once been their altar was now covered by the blanket. Piled into the bowl like shape was Dust. Some of it had been found in the wild, but most of it came from the group as a whole. Specifically him and his mother.

His mind was racing, his emotions changing erratically. Cerise reached a Zen like state as words rushed through his mind.

_"We have to do something!"_

"I forbid it boy!"

"You're my shooting star, Cerise..."

"Huntsmen and Huntress protect the people."

"It's you I have to thank for the rescue, isn't it?"

" Even if you don't head for a kingdom, at least. From the sound of things, life there has got to be better than life here. That's for sure!"

The Zen like tranquility gave way to a passion and that passion showed like fire in Cerise's translucent orange eyes. He ducked into his tent gathering his belongings as quick as possible dumping them into a rucksack. He didn't close it, however.

Going to a certain spot in the tent he pulled out a box that he had kept hidden from his Uncle. It was something from his mother and only she and he had known how to open it. Stuffing it in the rucksack, Cerise grabbed it while the sack was still open. He reached for the tent flap pulling out Open Star with his other hand and he ducked outside.

Knowing that he had a limited amount of time to leave because his Uncle had some talents of his own, he summoned his glyph. Cerise let it whoosh seeing a huge explosion of dirt into the air. In ten seconds flat anarchy reigned. Cerise called his glyph under him and used it to dash right for the alter. Cerise smirked as he heard his Uncle's cries for order.

Cerise grabbed the end of the blanket and wrapped it from the bottom. He turned it into a makeshift bag shoving it into his rucksack, then tying it closed. Kicking the altar over, Cerise called his glyph under him once more jumping high over the camp landing on the outskirts. He braced himself as he hit the dirt. Then he heard a roar "BOOOOYYYYY!"

Without a second thought, Cerise bolted. Using both his aura and his glyphs to propel him along, Cerise thought, _I just pissed off my whole group. Heinous Uncle included. I committed some form of theft, and all to go forward to an uncertain future with a man I barely know..._

Cerise grinned deviously as a warmth spread through him born of a somewhat grim satisfaction. _I haven't felt so right with myself in a long time,_ Cerise's grin went wide as he looked back at camp seeing a search party out. He dashed forward once more stumbling and falling off a sand dune. It would have been a nasty tumble if arms hadn't reached out and caught him. Cerise looked up into Ao's smiling face.

"Ready to go, Cerise?" He asked with a laugh. Ao picked Cerise up bridal style, bag and all. As Cerise started to sputter, Ao said, "Sorry Kid, but I can't waste time."

With that the two were off.

About an hour later, the two had finally ditched Cerise's pursuers. Since they had time they stopped at a clearing. Then a rumbling filled the sky as a light shone. And then Cerise saw it; a metal vehicle moving that was moving through the air. As Ao set Cerise down he laughed at his expression. "That's a Bullhead, Kid. Its our ride out of here."

After Ao had walked toward the vehicle he slid a door open gesturing for Cerise to get in. He got inside Ao following in sliding the door shut. The two relaxed as Cerise reached into his rucksack for the makeshift bag. He undid it, sorting out the dust and making sure the blanket had none on it. Once that was done, he put the dust away and folded the blanket too.

He looked at Ao who was typing away on his scroll. Cerise found his eyes closing, the exhaustion from escape overtaking him. He passed out welcoming the darkness.

He came to a start suddenly and looked around finding himself exactly where he'd left himself. He was still looking at Ao seeing a look on his face as he started out an opening. Ao was that he was up, "Glad to see that you're awake, Cerise. Come on and take a look this. We're here."

Getting up on jelly legs, Cerise went to the window and gasped. He could see a city by the water and what looked like a castle with a shining spinning light on the edge of the city. "That is the city of Harbor and the lit up building at its edge is its jewel; Lighthouse Academy. Welcome to your new home in the kingdom of Stronghold, Kid."

"Home..."Cerise whispered to himself still entranced.

A couple days after landing at Lighthouse Academy, Cerise was tested and evaluated. Staff personnel had taken his bag off him and Cerise was given instructions to head to a building for the Welcoming Ceremony. Left with that to wander Cerise thought, _I guess I'm in_.

Ao had left him a while back with a short, "Break a leg!"

Seeing other people his age, Cerise followed them seeing more and more kids his age or younger arrive. He walked through a courtyard taking everything in. He stopped short catching sight of something and a particular image caught his eye. Mesmerized, he moved towards it. As he got close he whispered astonished, "Mom?!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: there's not really much to say here with the re-written chapter. I did remove a fight scene that had been in the previous version and replace it with something that works better. I hope you like the chapter. My OC's are my creation. I do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form. Reviews welcome. Enjoy! **

* * *

Stardust

Chapter 3

Confusion

Cerise hadn't been this shocked in his entire life. He stared at the image that was fading in and out in front of him with a blank expression. Everything else around him had become a blur, the loud noises of students passing by dulling into whispers in his ears.

In front of him was a clear curved wall ad within it, displayed in a hologram, were pictures and blocks of text. The blocks of text flickered in and out of the frame in cycles. The only words that didn't move were 'Wall of Histories' that was on top of the wall. On the ground in front was a plaque stating that the wall was a memorial for heroes and events of the past. The image that kept coming back was of his mother; no doubt about that.

The outfit she wore was a closed padded canvas jacket and pants in the same style along with thick steel toed boots. If one was being generous, they might call her clothes gray. With the way the clothes blurred together it might have been more accurate to call them colorless. The color scheme was also shared with the war hammer in her right hand and the round shield on her left arm.

Suddenly, the world around him came back into focus. Cerise swallowed looking around seeing some of the other students heading elsewhere. He took another look at the image noting the text near it and his jaw dropped. Closing his mouth he headed after the other students taking in what the text had said.

The picture was to honor the Huntress who had been active on a dark day in Remnant's history. The day was known as 'The Otherworldly Blitzkrieg', but Cerise knew it by its other name. Members of the Crushed celebrated it as a holiday. They called it 'The Materialization', as it was the day the Anim first appeared on Remnant.

When Cerise had first asked his mother about it she had said it was a horrible day. The Anim that appeared that day had served as the Vanguard for a horde of Grimm and destroyed a city. The few survivors that had been left were only alive due to the fortune of the only Huntress that was there that day.

When Cerise had asked about who the Huntress was, Clare's reply had been vague. Her words echoed in his mind, _"No one you'd know in this life, my shooting star…"_

His thoughts swirled around in his head. At the front of these barrel of thoughts were the words he'd told Ao last night. Now Cerise understood Ao's reactions, most particularly the strange look in his eyes.

Cerise's face began to flush as he internally groaned. He recognized the emotion he was feeling. Betrayal. He shook his head dismissing the countless questions ringing in his head. He took a deep breath focusing his mind, _focus on the now. Worry about the rest later._

Following the other students, Cerise found himself in a wide room with large wooden platform against the far wall. It was a stage.

While everyone spread out Cerise could see quite a few clustered groups. He heard a particular selection of words that were being muttered.

Blue lines.

He looked around the room realizing that there were a lot of blue lines all over the place. The lines were thin with a dim glow. They seemed integrated into the school's building snaking their into every crevice.

Looking back towards the stage just in time, Cerise saw a man walk up to stand at the end of the stage. In a loud voice he said, "Quiet please!" The man in question was a tall muscular fellow with brown eyes, black hair and a beard. His white button up shirt was loose untucked from his pants and he had on black dress pants and shoes. Cerise was a little surprised. Proper wasn't really the air that this man gave off. Gruff was more the word.

As the man looked out over the quieting students, he could of sworn the man stared directly at him. For a moment, Cerise thought he sensed some hostility. Hearing whispers he caught the man's name: Professor Rust. A teacher?

Professor Rust rose his voice again so all the students could hear, "Listen up kiddos! Headmistress Blank has a few words for y'all!"

After he said that a woman stepped onto the stage. Cerise couldn't help but stare. For one thing, she was barefoot and was wearing a blue robe with a matching scarf around her head. She was dark skinned and had cloudy eyes. It took him a few moments to realize that she was blind.

In her hands she held a larger version of a Scroll like Ao had had. Despite being blind, she had no trouble navigating her way around. She stepped into the center where there was a microphone. The area around them darkened, a spotlight falling on the Headmistress as she began speaking.

"I'm going to keep this short and sweet. You have all reached this place…this moment in time for the sake of seeking guidance. To prepare your hearts and minds and to temper your talents and tools for the upcoming storms of life. The inner compasses of your hearts spin wildly. The paths before you are many. Though we are here to guide you what happens next, comes solely from you."

Headmistress Blank stepped offstage and Professor Rust stepped up barking out, "Alright kids! Y'all are camping out in the ballroom tonight. Initiation begins tomorrow. Prepare yourselves."

Some of the school employee's gestured for students to come a certain way. As Cerise and the others followed them, they entered an area full of large metal boxes that had doors for lids. 'Lockers' was the term Cerise heard.

As he saw more employees handing out assigned papers to students, he went up to one giving them his name. The employee stared at him for a moment before shaking his head and handing Cerise his paper.

Navigating to his locker he entered the code that was given to him and opened it. Everything Cerise had brought was inside and they had even been nicely taken care of. All his dust was sorted stored neatly on the top shelf. His wooden box was on the shelf below it and in the large space below was his folded rucksack, clothes, and the orange blanket. He could smell the detergent coming from his clothes. They had been cleaned.

He grabbed his pajamas and followed some of the other boys to a restroom. Ignoring the other males that were changing he went into a stall, changed, and came back out. He left the locker room after stowing away his old outfit. One he entered he looked around the ballroom. There were sleeping bags and pillows everywhere and a few tables that had paper cups and water dispensing tanks. Along with that were boxes filled with energy and protein bars.

Grabbing an energy bar and water, and finishing them, he decided to find a sleeping bag and pillow that was vacant. Cerise looked around as he heard a voice call out, "Heads up!"

Cerise reacted on instinct as he sensed something getting closer to him in the air. He spun around sharply waving his hand. His Glyph spun into being catching the pillow in it's hollow center a couple inches from his face. Without thinking he launched the thing back in the direction it had come from. It flew like a rocket striking the thrower in the stomach knocking them to floor on their butt.

Cerise blinked as everyone stared at him realizing what he'd done. He'd had never felt his face flush so bad as he turned red. Which ironically contrasted rather nicely with his blue hair. He asked the person he knocked to the floor with the pillow if they were okay while an employee announced that Semblance usage was prohibited.

After getting a confirmation that they were fine, Cerise, calm but quick, left the ballroom. He made his way into the gardens outside breathing in the cool night air. He heard a noise from right next to him and was startled to find that he was standing with Professor Rust.

Cerise blushed a little as the teacher stared at him. Cerise felt it again for a split second, that hostility. Cautiously he asked, "Professor Rust, have I done something wrong?"

The Professor was silent as he thought back to a conversation that had happened in Lighthouse Academy's tallest tower….

_It was a plain enough room. Circular in shape with a round window on the north wall. The room was painted all gray on the floors, walls, and ceiling. There were two squares of glowing blue lines there. One circling the room's perimeter and another circling a desk the top being made of a clear material while the base made of wood._

_Headmistress Blank's hands were poised over it not touching the clear material. She made gestures, flicks, and subtle movements at the images and words that suspended within parts of the desk's surface. This showed the desk's electronic nature._

_Rust stood before her as she managed her tasks sitting in a firm, cushioned, swiveling chair. "This is ridiculous! Who does Ao think he is?"_

_Blank said nothing keeping to her current task._

"_I can't believe this! Bringing that boy here with no proper training or schooling! Not even with any money or ways to live!"_

"_You know as well as I do that we have tutors and part-time jobs for these exact situations. Rust, we know Cerise has the potential for this."_

_Rust glared at her her face staring down at the screen. He tried barely able keep his eye from twitching. It didn't matter though because, despite being blind, Blank knew everything going on around her. And that applied to what people were thinking most of the time too, and she didn't her Semblance for that. Blank continued to make gestures causing things to happen on screen. She flicked her gaze to Rust for a moment and sighed._

"_Rust, let's get to the real issue here," she kept making words appear and tinkered with the windows. "You don't like this situation because you knew nothing about Clare to give you any warning this was a possibility. Clare was a mystery. To you. To me; even her partner and teammates!"_

_Rust took a deep breath and let it go. This was true. Back when Clare had been here, Rust had been a new teacher. No one knew anything about her then which wasn't different from now. This sudden family business was just, put plainly, shocking. The fact that she had become his favorite student then did not help._

_Blank slid one last window aside, "Clare had been up to something before she vanished. We know that much. Even if we don't know what, exactly. In my personal opinion, I'm not so much concerned about this than I am about the Crushed. Their grip outside the Kingdoms is… disturbing."_

_Rust let out a sigh, "Yes. I've seen the file that Ao sent. They're fanatics to be sure and this Silver looks to deranged. To think he's one of Clare's-" _

"_Rust!" Blank said cutting him off._

_Rust grumbled, "Humor me this then, woman. That picture aside, what sort of damn evidence do we have that Cerise is really Clare's son?"_

_Blank raised one eyebrow and in response flicked her right index finger making one last window appear. Accompanied by a robotic voice words appeared one the screen and were read aloud._

"_DNA TEST COMPLETE. MATCH CONFIRMED. 100 PERCENT POSITIVE." Blank sat back in her chair as Rust stared at the floor…. _

As he finished his reverie, Professor Rust was silent for a few moments. After that he said, "Besides using your Semblance just now? No."

The man turned walking off into the building. After a moment, Cerise followed him back inside not noticing the way a blue line set into the path had its glow pulse.

Up in her office Headmistress Blank shook her head, rolled her eyes, and sighed.


	4. Chapter 4

Stardust

Chapter 4

Jump

The next morning Cerise awoke in a rather grumpy mood. His faux pas last night, his encounter with Professor Rust, the Initiation today, and most of all the discovery about his mother Clare were the reason.

In the far corner of the ballroom, there were about ten pots of coffee, tons of sugar packets, cream packets, and stacks of styrofoam cups. Grabbing one, Cerise poured himself a cup guzzling it down and headed to the locker rooms to get ready. He changed into the spare sweater and blue jeans he had packed tucking Open Star along with some of his dust supplies in his sweater. He did hesitate for a moment as he considered the wooden box inside his locker. He shook his head closing the locker door. As he did, he noticed that most of the other teenagers were finishing getting ready too. More than a few of them were done grabbing second or third cups of coffee.

The speakers crackled to life with an announcement, "Will all first year students come to Lighthouse Cliffs for Initiation! All first years students come to Lighthouse cliffs!"

Seeing the others leaving, Cerise followed them outside to a cliff overlooking a green forest finding Professors Blank and Rust waiting for them. After everyone was gathered there they were ordered to form a line and stand spaced out. Looking at the two, they watched as Professor Blank took a sip from her mug while Professor Rust stepped forward to talk.

"Listen up, Kiddos! Here's how Initiation goes down. The forest behind me there is called Vibrant Woods. Once you're in there you're to find another person from this group to partner up with. How? Easy, the first person ya make eye contact with is your partner here at Lighthouse for the next four years and quite possibly beyond that. After forming your duo, in the heart of the woods, you'll find a shrine with a mechanical box. That box will dispense one object. The two of you are to bring that that object back up here. Then we'll match your duo with another one to form your assigned team and you're officially enrolled. There's enemies down there so be ready. You better kill them or they'll kill you. As for getting down, well, you've trained to be a warrior so jump and manage. Got it?!"

Blank looked at all of the gathered first years who seemed stunned at this rapid onslaught of information. She lowered her mug saying one word. "Begin."

Everyone looked at her and as one realized that the two of them were dead serious about everything that was just said, including the jumping. After some hesitant looks a fair number of them charged forward and jumped. Cerise even heard one shout cannonball as they fell through the air tucked into a ball.

Coming back to himself with a start, Cerise looked around to see that he was one of the last ones to go. Looking around he saw Professor Rust staring at him. Cerise, remembering last night and for some reason he couldn't place, blushed lightly. Maybe because of the look the Professor was giving him. It seemed to say, "What are you doing, kid?"

Looking at the cliff, he took a deep breath and began focusing his aura. Running forward as his right foot hit the edge of the cliff, his Glyph appeared underneath it and as he swung his left foot over the edge the glyph launched him forward. He went up into the air then dropped, sending him into a dive down towards the woods.

As Cerise reached the tree line, he called up his glyph and passed through the center slowing his fall. He also activated his aura to protect himself as he dropped down into the trees. As he reached the forest floor Cerise called up his glyph and his arm got suspended in the center as the glyph held it in place. However with motion's rules, Cerise had his arm yanked one way while his body went the other and as a result he nearly dislocated his shoulder his cry ringing out. "Agh!"

Whimpering from the sudden pain and waiting for the world to come into focus, Cerise dangled in the air. He dismissed his glyph dropping him to the floor. When he was safely on the ground he tended to his shoulder. _No permanent damage. Everything's just sore._ He checked everything else for any injuries and was fine. He ended up making an unpleasant discovery, however.

The burn dust crystal he had been given for his birthday was gone. Cerise groaned realizing it must have gotten lost in the jump. There was no chance of him finding it now, but all his other dust supplies seemed to be OK. Taking out Open Star, Cerise unfolded it and set off.

He wasn't sure how to find someone to partner up with but since they were all heading towards the same destination, he figured he'd run into someone before long. He looked at the sky deciding to try and head northwest taking the meaning that what Professor Rust meant by "heart" was the center. That direction seemed as good as any anyway.

He got about twenty minutes in when he heard a squealing noise. Cerise turned to face the noise jumping to the side just in time to avoid a black and white wheel of doom. It stopped spinning and hopped to land on the dirt upright his orange eyes now gazing at a Boarbatusk.

As its red eyes found him it snarled and charged, but Cerise had expected this reaction. Summoning his glyph right in front of him he waited until the thing stepped on it and then flicked Open Star up sending the thing skyward. Dismissing the glyph on the ground he called one to his right hand which still held Open Star and turned it into his energy blade. As the Boarbatusk hit the ground on its side, Cerise was instantly there jamming his weapon into the Boarbatusk's stomach. It squealed loudly, jerking for a moment then went still and closed its eyes.

Cerise's blade vanished as he turned to put some distance between the site of the battle and him. He walked along noticing the foliage getting thick really fast. He was having a hard time seeing the sky now, so the world was a mixture of greens, shadows, and light. Though the light was getting more dim.

Cerise sighed as he walked on when he could see a path or way through clearly. Reaching a small shadowy clearing he got to the center of it. Then he heard it; growling, sniffing, and snarling. He looked around finally seeing the dozens of pairs of burning red eyes that surrounded him. Cerise grunted readying himself for the attack that was about to ensue. He held his weapon in front of him protectively as he waited.

He looked around seeing about nine Beowolves come into his line of sight. The others stayed hidden as he felt his nerves twinging. Despite his training, and having plenty of combat experience with Grimm, this was a bit too much for him to handle. At most he'd only handled four at a time by himself, even though the two headed snake Grimm, the King Taijitu, didn't count as four.

_I think I regret not using what was in that wooden box…_ He shook his head at the thought, _No point in regrets now. You have to deal with this. As a Huntsmen you'll end up dealing with worse.  
_  
Looking at them fiercely one of the Grimm charged and soon enough the other eight did too. Taking the first one Cerise used a glyph to grab it and toss it to his left knocking over another Beowolf.

Summoning his energy blade he called his glyph to his feet and using it dashed forward at two Beowolves and swung his blade and got some satisfaction as one went down chopped in half and the other was knocked to the side clearly injured but still up and going.

Spinning sharply his glyph appeared underneath and with it he jumped up high and landed in another part of the clearing as the three jumped at him. Turning sharply his Glyph appeared around his waist and waving his fan Cerise sent it outward like a shockwave knocking the last two back Beowolves back as well as kicking over the others he hand stalled and down as the ring vanished.

Moving quickly Cerise grabbed a small pouch and poured its small contents out into his left hand in a hurry. Fisting the red dust he tossed up into the air his glyph appearing spawning from his middle finger for a split second.

As the red cloud glowed in the air Cerise closed Open Star and with his right hand pointed the closed fan at the monsters and gritted his teeth as he felt the results of what he wanted.

The cloud of red dust swirled and turned into streams of flame that Cerise gestured and sent it swirling towards the Grimm.

As the clearing became a miniature inferno Cerise kept gritting his teeth so hard he was afraid they may break. He felt aura exhaustion to be sure but it was a mental issue he was having now that was more prominent.

Using dust raw like this was powerful but it required a level of discipline that Cerise could only maintain while in top form and he was from it but he needed an edge and this was it.

Feeling a twinge in his aura reserves and a pulse in his head he let go of the swirling flames and with a whoosh the fire around him settled so he didn't have to worry about his own mistake overwhelming him.

Now he just had to worry about the fire he had now started and the Grimm he could still hear howling through the smoke and flames. Luckily he had something for this and with luck it would solve both problems.

Taking out one of his few dust crystals he had left. He held the pale blue gem up high and summoned his glyph around it levitating the stone and held his still closed fan over the ring of light and the gem suspended in it. Flicking the closed fan he sent it soaring through the swirling storm and then once he felt it get far enough along he opened the fan and got results.

Cerise felt the crystals energy activate as cold air blew past him with a whoosh sending his vision white and smoke and steam swirled and hissed around him. Using Open Star to bat away the clouds around him Cerise smiled as he got the effect he wanted quite well.

The Beowolf he injured earlier was dead the explosion from the gem seems to have killed it and it seems to have been joined by another one who had been burned pretty badly.  
Two of the others were burned alive and the bodies already deteriorating.

And the last four were too close to the ice dust crystal since they were frozen solid now. Cerise walked up to the ice block ignoring the blacked foliage around him as well as the dying fire and summoned his energy blade and made it incredibly long ignoring the drain on his aura in the process.

He did not want to have to deal with those things if they somehow got loose. So he swung the blade horizontally and cut the ice block and the Grimm inside it in half. Closing Open Star shut Cerise sighed feeling mental and aura exhaustion hit him. Cerise knew he'd be better soon but it still sucked. So letting out a breath he dropped his guard for a moment and this proved to be nearly fatal.

With a snarl a black and white blur flew towards them and Cerise barely got his glyph up in time to block the attacker and immediately realized how bad off he was in two different ways. First off, his attacker was a Beowolf that was a few sizes bigger than the ones he just dealt with and had more armor on it. He was looking at the pack leader no doubt.

The second was his glyph. For starters it wasn't spinning like he's known it to do and he could feel it starting to shake almost shrink in the process. Cerise could only think, _oh hell I'm gonna die here…  
_  
Then a voice cried out "HAH!" A golden blur flew past him and knocked the Beowolf off of him and his glyph shattered the colored light vanishing and he felt to his hands and knees and gasping he looked on as the golden blur made a circular motion and the pack leader hit the ground dead.

As the golden glow died down the figured lowered his weapon and headed back towards Cerise and the blue and silver haired boy could only stare as the figure revealed itself to be a boy like him and his orange eyes met bright green-gray ones… The boy held out his hand offering him help "I'm Citrine."

Cerise took it and pulled himself up and said "Cerise."


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: hey there people here's the final chapter to be posted for now. Yes with the previous version I had seven chapters but sadly chapter's six, seven, and the new chapter eight aren't ready yet. There'll be more details on that in a journal I plan to do on DA or Tumblr as of 6/4/2016 but for now this is the end of the update. I removed an aspect of my OC's in this chapter and tweaked one of the main scenes in a previous chapter but overall I think the new re-write works. For now I hope you like this. My Oc's are my design. I do not own RWBY in any, way shape, or form. Reviews welcome. Enjoy.**

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Stardust

Chapter 5

Prophecy

On the cliffs overlooking the Vibrant Forest Professor Blank held a coffee mug in one hand and a scroll in the other.

Glancing sideways despite being blind she had a pretty good idea what her companion at her side was doing and she was right. Professor Rust was staring blankly into the sky and to her she knew this meant he was still upset.

She sighed "you need to let this go, Rust."

Rust's gaze regained focus and he glanced sideways at her then back into the air before saying nothing.

Blank returned to looking at her scroll and said "it appears our pairings have begun to form." The woman scrolled through the device with a flick of her fingers and stopped at "seeing" something on which she commented.

"Oh, so those two joined up. That's interesting."

Rust's curiosity getting the better of him, had him pulled out his own scroll and pulled up the appropriate window. It didn't take long to see what had her attention.

"Nebula's with THAT kid?!"

Blank mused "I wonder what they're capable of together…"

Rust snorted "not much Nebula will be carrying that kid. Frankly I doubt his capability, we don't even know if his semblance does what we think it does. He's useless as a Huntsman."

Blank gave a tiny smile "that's rather hypocritical of you considering what people once thought of your semblances visionary capabilities…"

"I'm sorry but you see the future?!" Cerise exclaimed as he walked beside the other boy.

Skeptical orange eyes glanced over his new partner.

He was a year younger than him and like Cerise he was pale skinned, he also had long brown hair tied in a ponytail. His eyes were a mixture of gray and a bright dark green. He was wearing a lose black shirt with long black sleeves with a green vest over it, he wore long loose green pants the same color as his vest, and he rounded out the outfit with short brown boots.

A few moments ago after Cerise and Citrine had first met when they talked about where they were going to go next Citrine had done something unusual.

He had closed his eyes stood stock still and Cerise saw Citrines aura pulse around him for a moment as well as something else on his new partner's forehead. It was a hexagon albeit not so round it wasn't a solid shape just an outline defined by yellow lines the same shade as Citrine's aura and within the hexagon itself was the shape of an oval cut off by the hexagons lines. All together it almost looked like an eye, the symbol was also on his halberd too.

Cerise thought to himself then that must be his personal symbol as he thought of his own shooting star. After a moment the glow vanished completely and Citrine looked a little drained gasping a bit he said "t-this way" pointing.

And set off in the mentioned direction with Cerise following a second or two later.

After a second or two walking Cerise decided to go ahead and asked "why are we heading in this direction?"

Citrine slowly looked at him conflict written across his face and said "because I saw us doing so and I don't really see any better alternative."

Cerise asked "saw…?"

Citrine gave him a slow searching look, sighed, and said "my semblance is a gift of prophecy" running his hand not holding the halberd through his air.

Which brings us to now as Citrine explained how his semblance worked.

Citrine said that his semblance works two different ways even his instructors have trouble understanding it.

"The first" Citrine said "is when I close my eyes and use a good burst of aura I can see two seconds ahead clearly and that's if the situations calm. If stuff is happening around me the images… overlap" he said grasping for a word to describe it.

"Reading up on some fortunetelling books, I think that's possible futures I'm seeing that are overlapping because stuff is happening around me constantly changing it. It's only useful if used in a calm setting if even that." Citrine said with a bitter tone.

Cerise didn't bother to ask why Citrine sounded the way he did.

Citrine's semblance could be seen as good if the visions and way of using them were capable of being good but the problem was its use in battle was non-existent really, for starters he had to close his eyes and use a good portion of aura and since combat status constantly changes well… his oracular abilities had no real use as a Huntsman.

But Citrine did say….

"You have a second way to use your semblance?" Cerise asked curiously.

Citrine threw him a look through half lidded eyes almost as if asking himself a question before sighing and rolling his eyes tossing his head back, with one hand he reached for a leather pouch at his side and pulling out… a deck of cards?

"A deck of tarot cards" Citrine said fanning it and showing an assortment of pictures and colors on the front and a rainbow striped back on all of them "78 in total, my parents had already unlocked my aura then one day as a kid I found this and my semblance appeared as such but with these" he gestured at the deck fanning it shut "I go into a deep and slightly creepy trance and spout incredibly vague prophecies that most of the time mean nothing until well after the event's occurred, last time I gave one it was year before we figured out what it was referring too and yeah…" He finished in a low exasperated tone.

Cerise eyed the deck and holding out one hand he asked "may I?"

Citrine sighed and merely handed him the deck of cards.

Cerise eyed the deck and its illustrations and said "huh."

Citrine eyes him wondering what that meant precisely. Cerise looked back at Citrine and the older boy realized he had only been with his teammate for barely more than a day and had trod on several different sore spots. Wincing internally at the thought he held the deck out to Citrine who merely took it back and tucked it away.

Cerise thought over what he knew about his interactions and others outside the kingdoms and said the only thing that made sense then.

"Sorry…" Cerise said sheepishly.

Citrine sighed and mumbled "it's okay." Then looking at his friend he said "you look like you're older than me, what secrets are you hiding?"

Cerise bit his lip nervously and went "uhh…" For about a second as Citrine looked at him curiously before a snarl went through the air as big Ursa lunged from out of the gloom and greenery and charged them.

Cerise unfolded his fan and Citrine unslung his halberd from its place his back.

With a twist of the fan Cerise called up a glyph between them and the attacker and the glyph Cerise was pleased to see was back to normal as it was spinning normally and had its intended effect of blocking the charger.

Cerise made a flick with his fan which made the glyph knock the Grimm up slightly and seeing Citrine poised next to him dropped Cerise the glyph to let his partner act.

With a spin and the motion of his weapons swing without letting go Citrine created an arc of yellow light that rammed into the Ursa's belly and knocked it flat on its back where it lay like a turtle if only for a moment.

Citrine moved to seize that moment and to help him along Cerise called up his ring under Citrine to provide a speed boost.

It worked but it caught Citrine off guard for a moment making him skid on the ground and stumble before he caught himself something Cerise noticed with a wince.

But regardless Citrine was still able to do what he intended sticking his weapons in the beasts' belly effectively ending the threat.

Sharing an uncertain look at the lack of proper coordination, Cerise shrugged, Citrine nodded slowly, and the two headed on but it wasn't long before they spotted light beginning to break through the gloom and foliage.

Sharing a brighter look the two smiled and walked into the light and a large clearing.

Cerise and Citrine had to blink at what was before them.

For starters the sky was visible overhead no tree canopy. There were only a few patches of grass here and there otherwise it was just plain dirt. But that placed in comparison to the clearings main attractions.

There were a few wooden columns scattered about some pale color on them from pain long weathered and the columns were old and cracking or broken altogether.

But in the center was a lone rock with a little wooden structure on top and much more importantly a much newer silver box sitting on the ground in front of it.

Sharing a brief smile the two headed towards it reaching the box they heard a whirring noise then with a clunking noise a small object was spat onto the ground picking it up Cerise saw an object he knew of but had never seen but still he remained silent.

Citrine though spoke up with a mutter "a puzzle piece?"

Flipping the black toy part over they saw the number "16" inscribed in gold on the back.

Looking at each other they shrugged and looked at the cliffs skyline where they need to get back to and then into the gloom forest and shared an understanding look.

Neither of them particularly wanted to wage war to get back to the starting point at this moment.

So with a thoughtful look Cerise said to Citrine "be ready to land in a hurry and maybe need to help me land too."

Citrine turned a questioning look on Cerise but that changed to understanding when Cerise opened his fan and called a ring into the air before them and jumped up and landed on  
the empty space facing Citrine, Cerise said "we need to move fast."

Citrine nodded and jumped up beside him.

Cerise looked back towards the cliff and called another ring before them but higher in the air and taking a deep breath Cerise jumped forward with Citrine right behind him and with his right arm wind-milling he dismissed the vacant glyph and called up a new one for them to jump on and they proceeded like this all the way back to the cliffs though as they got close to their target Cerise's rings did start to shake and slow in their spinning.

But still tired they made it back to the cliff tops and sprawled there for a moment and at the sound of movement they looked up and saw Professor Rust approaching.

Cerise hazily blinked as he came back to himself in the auditorium where all those who had passed initiation were gathered as by groups of four students were assigned into teams.

After the first two Cerise had sort of tuned it out to rest much like he did with the Crushed's evening prayers back at camp but looking around he saw they were down to the last few pairs, himself and Citrine included.

Paying attention now he watched as the third to last team formed and blinked as he caught what he hadn't before.

_Oh please no…_ He thought. _Don't tell me…?_

But as the second to last team went up he got his answer. Last names WERE called in the process and Cerise closed his eyes groaned lightly, getting a look from Citrine as the older teen wished to disappear. If his mother Clare was who he thought she being some kind of hero, Cerise knew this could get complicated fast.

As they were signaled to call up Cerise decided just to get it over with and deal with what may come.

As the duo walked up Cerise eyed those that were to be grouped with them.

The first was a male faunas with wolf ears. He looked about Citrine's age and had fair skin albeit it smudged with some sort of dirt. He had pale blue eyes  
and short cropped red hair. He was wearing a green tank top, camouflage pants, and combat boots. He also had a short sword sheathed at his backside.

The second person was a female human. Her complexion though was beyond the three boys' fair tones her skin looked downright ethereal, accompanying it was blond hair and bright purple eyes. She was wearing green sneakers, blue stockings, black shorts, a pink long sleeved shirt, and a magenta scarf to round out the outfit.

As they all stepped onto the stage like the others Professor Blank called up their pictures one by one along with their names.

"Citrine Seeress, Titania Regalia, Smoke Carver, and Cerise Nebula." And with those words hushed murmuring whooshed through the auditorium as the trio on stage with him all gave him looks of surprise Citrine most notably.

But still Professor Blank went on quieting things somewhat as she said "the four of you brought back matching puzzle pieces bearing the number 16 henceforth you four shall be called Team Cactus from today on." As she spoke Cerise saw their named vanish but for the first letter of each of their first names with moved and formed an acronym. CCTS.

Looking at Professor Blank she then finished "led by Cerise Nebula." To general applause while Cerise hung his head knowing his own prophecy had come true and that outside or inside the kingdoms trouble may have followed him regardless…


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: Alrighty so here we have the remaining chapters of Stardust that should of been uploaded along with the rest of the update. For those not current with my Tumblr or DA page put simply there was a delay but now today I can put them up! Not much to say I pretty much just tweaked it here. I hope you like this. I do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form. My OC's are my own design. Reviews welcome. Enjoy!**

* * *

Stardust

Chapter 6

Academic Conflict

Cerise closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again raising his head and he looked at the four on stage with them and nodded and the newly formed Team CCTS headed down off the stage onto the auditorium floor.

As they walked Cerise shared a glance with Citrine, the look his eyes saying "sorry" and Citrine's lips quirked up just a little bit and Cerise was able to heave an inner sigh of relief.

Citrine had told him some of his secrets and Cerise hadn't with himself so he'd been worried a bit that this could ruin his new partnership.

Turning back to the stage they watched as Professor Blank announced they were free to head to their assigned dorms turning to head to the nearby holographic screens Cerise and his new teammates made their way over.

Cerise noticed that more than a few students were eyeing him, his own team included and sighed. Muttering lowly so Citrine could hear but it couldn't be broadcasted to others he said "I'll explain when we reach our designated quarters."

Citrine nodded in affirmation but Cerise received a shock when the wolf faunas muttered lowly "good I want to hear this" making him jump and stare as Smoke's wolf ears twitched.

Nodding he watched as Smoke spoke softly to their only female, Titania who nodded and tossed a slightly unsteady smile at him.

Feeling a bit more at ease Cerise and his new friends looked at the screen and saw their assigned rooms and turned to head that way. Making sure to collect their room keys along the way.

As they walked through the halls of Lighthouse Academy Cerise took note of more those glowing blue lines still present wherever they went.

_Are those things all over the school?_ Cerise wondered and had to stifle a laugh a moment later when Titania asked "hey are those glowing blue things all over the school or what?"

Cerise calmed down when he heard Smoke say "probably, they may be a function of the schools system."

As they rounded a corner and entered a hallway full of doors, most of which were open and had students already in the doorway, coming in and out of the rooms, and had voices come out of them nosily. CCTS walked along as they looked for their room number. Reaching it they unlocked the door and headed inside stopping short at the sight of another person already inside.

Citrine, Smoke, and Titania all tensed but Cerise gave a hesitant smile.

"Hey Ao" he said shyly. Not noticing the way his team was staring at him he stepped into the room and closer to the dark Huntsman.

The older male smiled at the teenage and said "hey there kid, I've got to get going but I wanted to stop by and congratulate you and your new team on passing Initiation."

Ao looked over the now curious trio behind Cerise and looked at him "good luck kiddo, here I have something for you." Reaching into a pocket on his all black ensemble he pulled out a slim metallic device and handed it to Cerise, Ao saying "the school would have given you one of these anyways but I wanted to give you one personally. Your own Scroll with all the standard bells and whistles."

Reaching over Ao hit a button and the Scroll came to life in his hands noting with some amusement and how surprised Cerise seemed to be.

"Now this Scroll is no more basic than any of the other school ones but I added something to it for you. Pressing a button on the screen he watched as Cerise's face lit up in delight, wonder, and surprise as an image of the photo of him and his mom Clare appeared in high depth color and clarity.

Ao said to Cerise who continued to gaze at the photo. "I took a picture of that when we met and had a friend touch it up."

Cerise full blown smiling now said "thank you."

Ao smiled and said "don't mention it kid." Looking at the trio who was looking over Cerise's shoulders in curiosity at the photo Ao said "and with that I'm gone later CCTS!" And was out the door swinging it shut.

Cerise looked back at Citrine, Smoke, and Titania now sheepish he rubbed the back of his head saying "sorry about that."

Citrine thoroughly curious slowly asked "who was that?"

Cerise's smile shrank a little and he said "the Huntsman who gave me the chance for a better life here."

Shaking his head Cerise said "let's get settled and I'll fill you in on those answers OK?"

Citrine, Smoke, and Titania all nodded and they surveyed their room.

It was large and airy the door out was in the center of the wall behind them. A window that could be opened was directly opposite the door with a bookcase right under it. To the left on the window was a four poster bed with a storage chest against the end of it. There was another bed a few feet away from the first one placed against the wall with a storage chest placed against the wall between both beds instead of at the foot of it like the first one.

Directly to the south of the two beds were two matching desks with several shelves each above them. One desk facing south the other west. The other side of the room was the same but with pattern mirrored.

Each desk also had a member of team CCTS's stuff on each one.

Going by the desks where each of their belongings had been placed they claimed the bed adjacent to it.

So Citrine was by the left wall Cerise and Titania by the window on the left and right respectively and Smoke with the bed by the right wall.

Grabbing the containers containing their stuff they each went to the chest they assumed was for holding each of their stuff.

Opening it they found a few items already in it!

As they looked at each other they all realized they'd been given school uniforms. Tucked away amongst the clothes was a letter stating that Lighthouse had a dress code they had to follow but they were allowed to use accessories if they wanted.

Cerise was distracted from these musings by Titania exclaiming "you mean I have to wear a skirt?!"

Cerise looked at her and took note of the uniform.

The female uniform for Lighthouse consisted of a blue plaid skirt, a gray jacket, dark blue vest, white shirt, and blue bolo tie.

Smoke then piped up saying to his partner "this is a combat school there's bound to be some form of order like this Titania." The wolf faunas said while examining his own uniform.

This brought Cerise to pay attention to his own uniform which seemed to be the variant all males shared. It was a blue suit, with a gray vest, white shirt, and a regular blue tie.

Cerise looked at his storage chest where two more uniforms had been stored and blinked at the sight of another letter.

Picking it up and opening it Cerise read:

**Dear Mr. Nebula,  
It has been made our attention that monetary and academic matters may be an issue. Lighthouse academy has a work study program as well as student tutors to aid you in these matters. Please contact Professor Rust to inquire and take part of these facilities.  
Sincerely, the Staff of Lighthouse Academy  
**  
Citrine's voice pulled Cerise from these notions looking at his partner he saw Citrine focused on the letter "everything okay?"

Cerise nodded and folded it up saying "yes this nothing for you to worry about."

Cerise reached for his rucksack he pulled it out and started to put his dust supplies and clothes into the chest and was distracted by Titania incredulously asking "is that all you have Cerise?"

Cerise looked at Titania who as openly staring at his meager belongings and smiled self-consciously.

"Yes this all my stuff." Looking at her who seemed to be stunned he asked "I suppose I should make good on that promise now huh?"

Citrine, Smoke, and Titania all nodded.

Folding more clothes and sticking them in the chest he explained to the others as they put up their stuff "my name is Cerise Nebula and yes, my mom is Clare Nebula. I was born and raised outside the Kingdoms. My mom taught me about aura, and helped me train my own fighting style when my semblance manifested. In time we became the leaders of a nomadic group."

Cerise sighed "not long after I turned fourteen and got the hang of using my semblance a new family member showed up out of the blue, my Uncle Silver, mom vanished soon after. Time went on and my uncle and the rest of his faith gained power."

Citrine broke in here. "Followers?" He asked.

Cerise looked at him and said "yes my uncle is a high ranking clergy member in the Crushed and leads a huge following."

The three blinked at this news before Titania outright broke into laughter, Citrine chuckled, and Smoke shook his head with a smile on his face.

Raising an eyebrow Cerise said "uh am I missing something?"

Titania managing to gain some control over herself said "uh yeah! The Crushed is a group of lobbying nutjobs. We only ever see in town squares, public parks, or street corners handing out flyers and screaming "the truth"" Titania finished making air quotes.

Cerise blinked at this disbelieving information but carried on anyway "OK… well outside the kingdoms they're a big deal, believe me most of the people are devout members."

The others settled down at this. Looking somehow both concerned and skeptical Smoke asked "oh?"

Cerise noded and said "mhm most of the people out there are Shards."

"Shards?" Citrine asked.

Cerise nodded "yeah it's what members of the Crushed call themselves."

Smoke muttered "I didn't know that." Citrine and Titania muttered accompaniment.

Cerise frowned at this and said "anyways for the past few months most of the younger kids have been vanishing and what family they have didn't seem to care" taking note of the appalled looks on the others faces and the slight shadows in Titania's eyes he continued "I know right? Anyways the day of my seventeenth birthday I went to a spot where nomads like to trade items and news. On my way back to camp I ran into an Anim and killed it, right after I met Ao. He said he was a Huntsman who knew my mom. After hearing me out he offered me a way out that life, he gave me time to think and I made it back to camp."

Cerise sighed and frowned "I got back to find Alice the last child in the group was gone and her parents much like the others didn't even care. Next I_ uh…" Cerise broke off here feeling self-conscious.

Titania a wicked grin on her face and feeling something akin to amusement from her new team leader asked "and…?"

Cerise put a hand to his face saying "I got upset, and caused a huge incident stealing all the dust Uncle had gathered, and made a run for it with Ao's help two days later here we are."

Smoke eyes narrowed and his wolf ears twitched slightly as he said said "so this your first real school?"

Cerise said "yeah."

Smoke grunted at this.

Citrine looking Cerise with admiration and just a little jealousy said "so your mom taught you to fight?"

Cerise nodded "yes up until she vanished than experience was my teacher, if you can't fight you can't survive." Cerise putting his last article of clothing up frowned.

Citrine said "something wrong?"

Cerise sighed "yeah just thinking about mom, I had no idea she was a huntress till I got here and saw that memorial!"

"Surprised?" Titania asked chirpily as she reclined on her new bed done with her packing. Smoke done too was by his desk examining the furniture but looked over his shoulder at this topic.

Shaking his head Cerise sighed "understatement I just wish I knew this but then maybe that's the reason why she vanished."

Citrine done packing said "yeah we can talk about that later though it's late" he titled his head at the window which showed a darkening sky "and we may have classes tomorrow so let's get to bed."

With that the three members of CCTS gathered their sleeping clothes and bath stuff and headed off to the bathrooms.

Cerise reached into his rucksack for his final belonging, a wooden box and idly caressed it _thinking mom…_ Before tucking it away with his dust supplies and grabbing his own sleeping stuff and followed his new team.

(CCTS)

The next morning as the sun rose in Remnant Cerise opened his eyes and got up. Blearily looking around it took the seventeen year old a moment to remember where he was and what was going on.

Shaking his head he slid out of the covers and the bed and onto the floor. Looking at it he considered going back to sleep in what he thought of as heaven as he had never slept in a real bed before but there was the day ahead to consider.

Moving in the in minimal light let in through the window he sighed and went over to what he considered his desk and looked through it. Finding a folder he opened it and blinked at the paper inside.

Picking it up, he read the thing, and found his team's class schedule.

Getting his new scroll and checking the time he decided to let them sleep for a little while longer before seeing about getting them up.

But that didn't mean he couldn't start getting ready.

Walking over to his storage chest he got a uniform out, grabbed his room key and went into the hall.

After visiting the bathroom and changing Cerise looked at the school uniform he now wore and found that he hardly recognized himself in this suit.

Sighing he went back into his room and blinked at the sight of Smoke already dressed in his school uniform and the sight of a bleary Citrine and grumpy Titania sitting up in bed.

At the sight of Cerise also already dressed for the day Smoke merely raised an eyebrow.

"I'm an early riser" Cerise explained to which Smoke nodded "but…" he went on "why are you all up now?"

Titania still grumpy said "Smokey here set an alarm on his Scroll!" She finished with a yell throwing a her pillow at him which Smoke caught and tossed back at her rapidly knocking her onto the floor with an "oof!"

"Don't call me Smokey!" Smoke barked at her.

Butting in Cerise interceded somewhat apologetically "well I was gonna wake you all up anyway, we have classes soon." He finished pointing at the class schedule on his desk.

Smoke nodded and walked over to look at the piece of paper while Citrine and Titania got their own stuff and went to get ready.

As soon as the two of them were back with Titania wearing a pair of blue stockings like the ones from yesterday and they finished grabbing a few things they set off.

Cerise set off right for the first classroom leading the way there quite accurately have already memorized a map of the school and being good at orienteering.

It was the only good point to Cerise's entire day.

Most of the entire day was spent on academic courses. Now Cerise knew how to read and write as well as basic math but the classes they had did stuff that were beyond him.

Cerise felt a new form of depression and inadequacy by lunchtime and Citrine and Titania tried to cheer Cerise up but had only a little success.

The day went on and from there Smoke seemed to get more and more agitated and things finally came to ahead towards the end of the school day.

It was a class that focused on dust and chemicals now while dust manufacture companies did a good job having a basic understanding of creating dust types is handy as is mixing chemicals be it acid or blast mixtures can be helpful too and luckily the other three members of CCTS were as new to this as Cerise was a point Citrine pointed out to attempt to cheer Cerise up and it worked.

However it also set off Smoke in the process.

The professor had been called away to an office and set them to make a basic mixture that he said no one could mess it up it was that basic and left the room.

"And so take the extract and add two drops to the jar and stir for two minutes before letting it stew for five minutes." Cerise read from the textbook's directions and Citrine slowly did as instructed.

Titania eyeing the scene smiled happily while Smoke arms crossed stood behind her.

"Well this is going well" Citrine said examining the miniature mad scientists lab on the classroom desk.

Cerise nodded and Titania said "yyyyup!"

Smoke snorted and walked around the desk and leaned back and said "I'm surprised it is going well considering our leader's current status."

Cerise blinked and handed Citrine the textbook and walked around the desk to talk to Smoke asking "what do you mean Smoke?"

The faunas snorted and faced Cerise "I'm just surprised you can even manage reading those instructions so well considering how slow you are. And Professor Blank made you team leader?"

Cerise blinked "my academic skills aren't good, it's true but_" Smoke cut him off with a harsh sentence.

"The academic thing is only part of your being unfit for team leadership, the main thing is that you're deserter stock!"

Cerise's eyes narrowed, he scowled, and then snarled "you jerk! What gives you the right to say that about me?!"

Citrine eyes wide shoved the textbook at Titania and went around the desk saying "hey c'mon you guys…"

Titania stared at the fight taking place in front of her noticed that aside from a few glances in their directions their classmates were minding their experiments.

_Which we should be doing_ Titania thought to herself before trying to get the boys on her team back on track.

"Hey guys? The assignment?"

The three boys continued to argue.

Letting out a huff of air Titania looks at the experiment and thinks _OK then I'll do it myself then how hard could it be?_

Opening the textbook she found the right page and reached for the right test tube and picked it up only for her to squeeze it accidentally and pop it right out of her grip!

Eyes wide and staring she froze as the whole thing liquid and glass fell in the bubbling jar.

The thing changed colors and started foaming and bubbling even more furiously than before.

Titania began to panic looking furiously through the textbook for information on what to do but had no clue where to look after flipping a few pages.

Looking at the three boys she calls "guys!"

Titania threw her arms out to get their attention and murphy's law threw its two cents in on the situation as her arms had knocked over two more test tubes and they spilt right into the jar!

The thing immediately turned a maroon color and a slimy bubble began to grow off the top of the jar.

Now nearly reaching hysterical panicking she tried to get her team's attention but they were arguing even more doggedly and louder than before so that was a bust.

Swallowing Titania grabbed a pencil and tried to poke to bubble and get it to pop only for the thing to swallow it and balloon up to the size of a beach ball!

Then it started to shudder and darken. Titania then actually reached hysteria level huntress training be damned!

She shrieked "SHIELD UP OR RUN FOR YOUR LIVES, IT'S GONNA BLOW!"

And with that she darted for the nearest window and with purple wings reminiscent of a fairy made from her aura appearing on her back she escaped through the window into the sky.

Meanwhile the rest of the class had started turning to look but Cerise, Citrine, and Smoke had already faced the disaster in progress at Titania's scream, blanched as one in horror, and dove for the beach ball sized bubble just as the professor opened the door…

(CCTS)

Meanwhile in Harbor the city bordering Lighthouse Academy quite a few citizens raised their heads as they heard a strange sound echo through the air. It almost sounded like an explosion…

(CCTS)

Back outside the classroom the professor lowered his arm and dropped his aura barrier as the shaking stopped.

His eyebrows rising slightly at how some off the goo made it out into the hallway but was stopped by barrier creating a semi-circular pattern he stepped into the classroom and what an ordinary person may call "the apocalypse of the goo" and they wouldn't be too far off.

Goo in every color of the rainbow was everywhere. Somehow a desk had gotten even gotten stuck on the ceiling!

The entire class in here had clearly been caught off guard as noted from their various positions on the floor and how most were drenched in the slimy substances.

_We'll need to get the students checked out_ the professor muses _the last thing we need it accidental dust fusions this early in the semester._ He thinks.

Examining the slime trails he realized multiple explosions were the cause but it seemed to be chain reaction looking for the source lead him to a large explosions epicenter towards the back where Cerise, Smoke, and Citrine all laid out very much out of it and it at that exact moment that Titania landed on the windowsill.

At the sight of the entire scene she froze and the professor raised an eyebrow at her…

(CCTS)

All classes were beginning to end. Team CCTS were in a classroom very much awake and cleaned up from the incident… at least physically.

The room had five rows of four desks each and the front had a chalkboard on it were displayed the words "Detention. No talking!"

Titania was in the very back row on the far left staring down at her desk.

Citrine was in the third row, the middle one on the far right staring out the window.

Finally Cerise and Smoke were in the very front with Cerise on the far right with Smoke on the far left glaring daggers at each other.

Here was the situation:

Titania was in massive trouble and couldn't even look at anyone, let alone speak to them not she could anyway even if they weren't in detention.

Citrine was shunning Titania for the experiment mess up but was also annoyed with Cerise and Smoke for arguing so he was ignoring them all.

Cerise and Smoke were shunning Titania too and ignoring Citrine after he took his stance on the situation and were spending their time glaring at each other and waging war nonverbally.

And it was in this manner that team CCTS's first day of classes at Lighthouse Academy came to an end…


	7. Chapter 7

**Proper note and disclaimer at the bottom for now enjoy!**

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Stardust

Chapter 7

Interaction

It was a bright new at Lighthouse Academy. The birds were singing, the sunlight was bright, a feeling that anything was possible was in the air.

Such pleasantries died when entering team CCTS's room.

The events of yesterday were still heavy with three out of the group of four and were as follows:

Cerise and Smoke were doing their best to keep their backs to each other as they got ready.

Citrine was keeping his back to both boys and while wasn't talking to Titania, he was at least willing to interact with her.

Titania was dealing with all this unhappily.

As everyone finished their preparations Titania sitting on the bed finally said "really so I'm going to be the mature one in all this?"

Silence reigned supreme; this was coming from the girl who blew up the lab which they still had detention for!

Titania let out a huff. Turns out once you got past her strange appearance she actually quite animated.

A moment later Cerise left and once he was a reasonable distance away Smoke left too.

As Citrine was halfway out the door when Titania tried to communicate again only this time she used logic.

"You know behavior like this will get us killed in a fight right?"

Citrine paused in the door way which gave Titania slight pause for hope. _Is he actually going to speak to me?_ She wondered.

For Citrine it was a slight internal war as his irritation with her waged war with the truth of what she had said.

_Petty squabbles like this can get us killed against Grimm or even trained fighters if the situation ever comes up._ He thought as he turned conceding to Titania.

"Agreed" he said with a sigh "but I'm not sure what can be done in this situation."

Titania said to this with a deadpan stare "aren't you supposed to be able to see the future."

At this Citrine tossed her a dark look "visual only and what I see is pretty limited."

Titania sighed and thought for a second before speaking.

"Well as those two partners we need to bring them to their senses. You in particular."

Citrine gave her a questioning look "hmm?" He asked.

"You are Cerise's partner and he is our leader. So it falls to you to wake him up!"

Citrine blushed brightly and with a squeak looked away which Titania found a slightly weird reaction. _Come to think of it he seemed nervous when we all were assigned to a team at the ceremony_ she thought to herself.

At breakfast it was worth noting that while they were staring past each other and sitting on opposite sides on the table they were at least sitting near each other.

As Titania sat next to Smoke and across from Cerise and Citrine did vice versa the two eyed the tense situation.

Citrine cleared his throat and said to his partner "So Cerise" and was broke off midsentence as Cerise turned a glance on him and those eyes may have been cold but they were flames for they burned.

He squeaked and sank low into his seat under that smolder and stayed put till Cerise went to staring past Titania again.

Titania observed Citrine's behavior in confusion. _That was… odd._ She thought.

Smoke took all this in without really looking at Cerise but the wolf faunas said nothing.

Turns out Titania would get her answer to why Citrine had such odd behavior later on that day.

The quartet sat in the order of their names going left to right. The teacher in front of them was ranting about the horrors she's seen humans, faunas, and Grimm commit and proceeded to rant about the Anim.

As Cerise took notes fast paced Smoke watched him with contempt from the far right. Titania elbowed Citrine and she watched as the male tried to talk to Cerise again but at the moment he whispered.

"Mr. Seeress!"

Citrine froze and looked at the professor who asked him a really basic question.

"Now what do humans, faunas, and the Anima inspire in all of us that calls the Grimm?"

As everyone in the room eyes looked at him Citrine squeaked and sank lower and lower in his seat until he was visible only to those sitting next to him and the rows behind CCTS.

Nothing happened as everyone waited for Citrine to say something be he all but melted into his chair and he gave incomprehensible squeaks for an answer.

The professor finally gave up and called on another student as Smoke and Cerise stared at Citrine in confusion and, Titania's eyes widened in realization as she screamed in her head.

_ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! HE SUFFERS FROM STAGE FRIGHT! REALLY? REALLY?!  
_  
Then the girl's eyes went even wider as iris and pupils shrank and she drew the attention on everyone in the room when she slammed her head down the desk and laid there thinking _oh god I'm gonna have to bring those two to their senses by myself aren't I?!_

The class just stared at all this in bewilderment and then shock as she put the arms on her desk and actually sobbed a little bit.

Citrine watched this in guilt, Smoke in confusion, and Cerise was actually considering running back to the lands outside Stronghold but when he compared this to begging to his Uncle Silver and what may come after and this he found this more preferable somewhat.

Eventually the professor called back order and the class went on. Titania though put on a face that showed nothing less than unhappiness as the day went on and with her looks they drew more attention that what one would expect considering how well her attitude contrasted with them.

Citrine had become nothing more than a shadow really considering he made himself unnoticeable and silent as possible.

Luckily though Citrine couldn't make himself invisible when they gathered together in the auditorium for their first day of Sparring Class.

Titania's look though worsened. The reason why?

Cerise and Smoke were on stage with Professor Rust. Cerise had his fan out and Smoke was wielding his short sword. Their pictures, name, and two green meters were on the screen.

The two were about to kill each other if the outright vicious looks on their faces were any indication.

Professor Rust holding a large scroll in his hand with monitoring programs on it and in a strange tone he said "okay kiddos this a basic sparring match, it will go on for either ten minutes or whoever gets disqualified first." He looked at both of them paying no heed to the bloodthirsty expressions they both had.

"Nebula, Carver, you ready?"

"Yes!" The practically growled.

Titania thought _this is going to help things SO much._

Then on the screen a countdown started and when it hit zero a timer appeared not that anyone was paying attention.

Smoke moved first, hefting his sword he ran for Cerise and with a leap swung it at him. Cerise merely flicked his face shut and called his glyph in front of him and Smoke's sword hit it the empty space in the middle of it.

Cerise opened it and watched as the ring expanded wide and out of existence as Smoke was flung backwards.

As Smoke regained his stance Cerise had made a new move.

Calling his glyph under his feet this time Cerise waved his fan and into existence appeared three orbs of pink light, waving his fan in the opposite direction turned them into streaks that shot right after Smoke who ducked and rolled along the floor letting them explode in pink bursts behind him.

Cerise took a deep breath and held his fan ready and Smoke tightened his grip on his sword.

Then the faunas smiled holding out his left hand he made it glow with the color of his namesake and the glow sort of oozed away from him and while the glow ceased the detached the blob did not as it reformed into a stream of smoke that Smoke was somehow controlling and the notable thing about the streak was the front end where his control was focused was shaped like a wolfs head.

Citrine watched that in awe while Titania clearly having seen it before watched with slight interest.

Cerise observed it with narrow eyes_. It's one thing to hear about his Semblance another to see it in action._ He thinks.

With a gesture Smoke sent it towards him but instead of going for him it burst into a cloud that formed around him and Cerise frowned as he saw two more streams heading right for him.

_He's going for cover_ Cerise thinks.

Sighing he called his glyph under him again but flicked the fan up and the ring sifted so moved up becoming a three dimensional ring around hovering around his feet.

With that in place it became apparent that the column the ring made created a clear space around him.

Rust raised an eyebrow at this as the smoke swirled around him in a cloud as he pressed a button upon his scroll temporarily turning off the fire alarms in the room.

Cerise just looked patient clearly waiting for Smoke's strike and come it did.

To the spectators they watched as Smoke dove into the cloud obscuring him from sight. And only the two combatants and the teacher were able to watch happened next.

Smoke went right for him not noticing the ring and swung at him striking empty air. Smoke looked down and then noticed the ring "oh crap." He said.

Cerise shut his fan and again Smoke went flying the explosion also dissipating the smoke in the process and disarming him.

As Smoke got back to his feet again Cerise had opened his fan and transformed both hand and fan into his energy blade and charged forward.

Smoke looked up and seeing this went from his sword lying in front of him, thrusting a hand and sending a smoke stream at him.

Cerise halted his charge and made his blade vanish though his hand and fan were still encased in aura.

Waving a hand with a yell he sent a wave of pink light at the smoke stream and Smoke himself. The energy engulfed the stream making it go and just as Smoke regained his sword the energy slammed into him knocking him down and his sword from his grip again.

As the faunas leaped up to grab a voice said "hold!"

The two looked toward the speaker Professor Rust. "The match is over Nebula has won."

Smoke ear's perked up as with slight outrage he said "what?!"

Professor Rust raised an eyebrow saying "your aura has dropped into the red, Nebula's has not."

Looking towards the monitor the two had realized this was true. Smoke's green bar had become a little red one. Cerise's was shorter too but it was longer than Smoke's and still yellow.

Smoke snarled and left the stage in a huff while Cerise just stared blankly after him for a moment before following as the two sat down.

Professor Rust turned to his scroll and began to call up the next pairing…

(CCTS)

Bbbrrrring!

There went the bel marking the end of the day and by happy coincidence the last class of the day.

As the students all filed out Smoke hung back not really wishing to stay with his team.

Then a hand came down on Smoke's shoulder and the boy paled as his pupils shrank. The grip was familiar to him. With slight dread Smoke turned and faced the person he dreaded.

The boy next to him was the same age as Cerise, seventeen but a second year. He was human with dark skin and black eyes which contrasted quite well with his white hair. This was Angelo Blanc and someone Smoke did NOT want to see again.

The reason why?

Angelo gave a feral grin and said "hello mutt I'm happy to see you again."

He was a bully and quite possibly worse than that.

Gripping him by the shoulder Angelo took him to a nearby hall and for what little good it did Smoke did squirm.

"I have to get going my team will be wondering where I am."

Angelo laughed "not really you don't want to be near deserter stock now do you?" He asked put emphasis on the words Smoke had thrown at Cerise yesterday and making Smoke cease his struggles.

As they rounded a hallway Smoke internally groaned at the sight of three people leaning against the wall.

As Smoke and Angelo neared them one of the figures detached themselves and sauntered over to them as Angelo said "Look whose here guys our lovely pet and now we can pick things up where they left off!"

The figured who approached was female, human, and the same age was Angelo. But then that would only make sense since she was his twin complete with the same skin tone, eye and hair color. Parker Blanc smiled nastily at Smoke and said "hello mutt."

This comment was enough to get Smoke to act as he snarled and said "like hell I'm doing that again." But the male yelped as Angel grabbed by the collar and held him up choking Smoke.

Angelo stared dead into his eyes and said "oh there's every way in hell you're doing what we say or otherwise. Well both our dads serve in the military and remind me again whose father serves under who again?" He finished with a dark smirk.

Nothing was said and from their positions along the wall the other two boys. One with brown hair, eyes, white skin, and a solid build. The other with pasty skin, green eyes, and blonde hair. Both of them merely traded glances.

Then finally Parker leaned forward and said "So mutt, you'll listen to us?"

Smoke looked down at the floor, and tighten his fists as he said through gritted teeth. "Yes."

"Yes what?"

Smoke shook for a second before saying "yes sir."

Angelo finally released his grip on Smoke who made no move to run away as Parker laughed and Angelo said "then you are now the property of team APPL."

The other two boys traded glances again and as they did none of the five noticed how the glowing blue line near the ceiling running through the halls brightened just a bit…

* * *

**Author's Note: Alright so this chapter marks the end of the re-write. You'll also notice a big difference I did between the version of this chapter and the old one. That being the focus with Angelo, back in version one he was just a character I was using for plot power and nott much else but then with the review inspiring me to polish this and whatnot I realized that such a move was pretty bad and I can do better so I re-did Angelo's design and created a proper team for him starting by including a sister. The bio for the twins can be found on DeviantArt and Tumblr. On that note I hope you liked this chapter, the new one's next. I do not own RWBY in any, way, shape, or form. My OC's are my own design. Reviews welcome.**


	8. Chapter 8

Stardust

Chapter 8

Encounters

Two weeks had passed since Cerise and Smoke had faced each other in class. Cerise and Smoke had reached the point where they could talk to each other, granted they sounded like robots but still it was a start!

Their days of serving detention for the big lab blow up were done and after a day or two all the weekend was here and Cerise, Titania, and Citrine were heading into the city bordering Lighthouse Academy, Harbor.

So as the three got dressed by sheer coincidence in the same clothes they all wore during initiation. As the three left they all couldn't help but notice that Smoke was absent again.

The wolf faunas seemed to be doing that a lot lately and even Cerise was taking note of it.

As they walked along to the tram that would take them into the city Smoke's absence seemed to grow heavier.

Eventually Titania fell behind Cerise and Citrine as her steps slowed and she eventually stopped which it took Cerise and Citrine a few moments to notice.

Turning they looked at the girl whose purple eyes were cast downwards. "Something wrong Titania?" Cerise asked.

Titania bit her lower lip and she looked back towards Lighthouse and finally said "you two go on ahead. I'll meet you at the city square."

The two boys blinked and it was Citrine who spoke first granted it wasn't much.

"Uh…"

Titania quickly overrode him saying "it'll be fine, I'll catch up later!" And then much to their surprise Titania activated her semblance fairy like wings made of her aura sprouting from her back as she took off.

The two partners exchanged looks and then turned and made for the trams.

As Titania flew through the school grounds ignoring the calls to get down and eventually going into a stealth approach as she slunk through the courtyard and heading for a secluded part which had gardens designed to look overgrown.

The other three members of her team didn't know this but she saw Smoke coming here solo a day ago or so and though no one had brought it up Titania had noticed that Smoke seemed to have a lot more papers and books on his desk then the rest of them. What's more he seemed to be having trouble with his own grades lately which seemed more than bit odd when compared to the factor she'd been seeing lately.

Granted Titania couldn't really discuss this since Smoke seemed to be surly about it, Cerise had a shaky position with Smoke still and Citrine had trouble with Cerise because of Smoke so really it fell to his partner to solve the mystery.

_Besides_ Titania thinks _I doubt those two would think about this anyway._

Meanwhile as the other two members sat onboard the tram Citrine asked "hey is it just me or has Smoke been hoarding a lot more school stuff on his desk then the rest of us lately?"

Cerise nodded "it's not just you he has a larger amount of supplies then the rest of us lately."

Cerise would know this better than the others after all Cerise was the one who gave those to Smoke!

_It was a part time job at Lighthouse Academy students could take up one of many that functioned on a rotation schedule he and Titania went through it both just a few days. Cerise was currently working in a large storage room laden with boxes filled with school supplies of every shape, size, and color._

_As Cerise finished tucking a box back onto its shelf he hears a ring coming from the bell on the window up front._

_In his work uniform consisting of black pants, shoes, and shirt with a blue apron and the academies logo in white on top Cerise headed for the window._

_Reaching it Cerise stopped short seeing Smoke there and the two boys immediately began to wage war nonverbally for all of a second before Cerise came back to himself._

_Since picking fights with customers was an easy way to get fired and Cerise needed the money so that meant…_

_Cerise let out a breath and then much to Smoke's surprise his face shifted to a neutral expression and the older boy said in polite if cold tones "how may I help you?"_

_Smoke couldn't help but blink at how robotic Cerise sounded before saying "uh… I need some supplies." Neither boy noticed how this interaction had no hostility for a change._

_Cerise said "what do you need and how much?"_

_Smoke told him._

_Cerise dropped his mask and stared at Smoke in slight shock which for some reason pleased Smoke._

_"Can you repeat that?" Cerise asked._

_Smoke complied._

_Cerise blinked and opened his mouth to ask Smoke what on Remnant could the faunas possibly need all those supplies for but stopped short._

_It was not his business and he was still mad at Smoke technically._

_Closing his mouth he got what Smoke asked for. Taking his teammates Scroll he used it and interacted with the console to get the supplies checked out._

_One of the great things about Lighthouse was that school supplies, books included were free._

_Handing Smoke his stuff Cerise watched as the faunas left and Cerise couldn't help staring after Smoke…_

Much to their surprise Cerise had kept up that façade as much as he could with Smoke and it made for a pleasant change for CCTS. Turns out all the times outside the Kingdoms had given Cerise a pretty good handle on such things if only for the sake of avoiding Grimm and before long Smoke mirrored him.

_What does he need all those supplies for anyway?_ Cerise wondered to himself.

Cerise was broken from his musings when Citrine asked another question.

"So did you also know Smoke did not do so well on that quiz that was on the day before yesterday?"

Cerise looked at him sharply "no I didn't."

Citrine nodded "yup he did, Titania told me."

Cerise found it very odd that the boy who gave him grief for his academic performance the very first day of class would slip up himself later.

After that conversation the two boys drifted in a silence that was half uncomfortable and comfortable.

Reaching Harbor the two began to navigate through the streets and its people Citrine watching with no small measure of amusement at his goggly eyes.

Meanwhile back at Lighthouse Academy Titania was tucked into the branches of a tree hidden by foliage. This corner seemed like a good place for troublemakers to convene.

She knew about such things all too well. And before long she saw Smoke come into sight and wait by an old stone bird bath.

Before long four people came into sight and Titania's eye went wide. She went to the same preparatory school as Smoke and she knew of Angelo and Parker Blanc and they were bad news.

The twins were still wearing the same outfits they wore back then. Grey jackets, shirts, pants, and shoes. The only difference being the symbols placed on their right breasts. Angelo's was a broken white heart with devil horns. Parker's was white broken heart too but no horns instead it had a dagger pierced through it.

Who Titania didn't know ere the two boys who followed behind them, their teammates Titania assumed.

The first boy had brown hair and eyes with a solid build. He was wearing a nearly all brown ensemble consisting of a hooded cape, padded jacket and pants with boots. Around his forehead was a headband just a shade lighter than the rest of his outfit and on the center was the boys symbol a brown arrow surrounded by a jagged shape that put Titania in mind of a crater or explosion.

The other boy had blonde hair and green eyes and seemed rather pasty. He was wearing a jacket, jeans, shirt, shoes, and a beanie all in shades of green. Titania didn't see a symbol anywhere on this one.

As Angelo and Parker approached a now cringing Smoke the female twin said "Carver so nice to see our pet wolf! Do you have our homework done yet?"

As the blond boy stood still the other boy leaned against a tree and watched the proceedings.

From her position Titania watched firmly from her position though on the inside she was ranting to Smoke about bullies.

As Smoke handed the duo their stuff Angelo snatched it and said "good wolfy, we'll give you the next homework assignments soon. I know you can handle them despite it being ahead of your coursework. We wouldn't want my dad to give your dad any grief under his command after all."

Twisting to look at the boy leaning against the tree Angelo says to his partner Pietro "Pietro, you sure you don't want any of this?"

Pietro Brown nodded and said "I'll pass thanks though."

From her position in the tree Ttitnia had frozen but for her eyes which had narrowed as she watched the events taking place but her pupils practically glowed as she seethed with rage.

Angelo looked Pietro up and down and said "I still think that cape of yours is stupid." Pietro shrugged and Angelo faced Parker and said gleefully "come sister we have a free weekend ahead of us."

Cackling the twins left and once they were out of range the blonde boy left out a breath.

Pietro looked at the blonde boy and once Smoke left with looking at either of them he said "you okay Lee?"

The boy Lee Weed looked at Pietro and said "yeah it's just Parker can be a bit…much. I don't know how you handle Angelo though Pietro?"

Pietro Brown shrugged and said "this is our team, and even if I don't like them I will stay" Pietro paused for a moment as he glanced up. He thought he just saw something purple but after staring for a moment and seeing nothing finished "loyal."

Lee opened his mouth to ask Pietro what was wrong but Parkers voice called "Lee!"

The boy squeaked and using his Semblance, speed he went to his partner's side and after a moment Pietro followed and no one noticed the blue line tucked amonst the grass on the base of the bird bath…

Meanwhile Titania flew through the gardens at a high speed a frown on her face. She needed to talk to Cerise and Citrine now.

About an hour later had her in Harbor's main square and she spent about ten minutes looking she found Cerise and Citrine sitting on a bench eating ice cream.

Cerise seems to be handling money well Titania absently noted as she trotted up to them.

As she reached them the two boys stood up and looking at her Citrine asked "Titania what's wrong?"

After the girl caught her breath Titania opened her mouth to speak and paused. Team leader Cerise may be but given his relation to Smoke lately she wasn't sure how to handle him. Floundering for a few moments Titania finally settled for a "we need to talk."

Cerise blinked and Citrine stared.

Cerise opened his mouth to ask her about what and his eyes were drawn to a monitor past them and getting sidetracked he pointed and asked ""what's that?"

The other two blinked and they turned their attention to Cerise's focus and Titania's eyes brightened as she got sidetracked too.

"Oh wow! That's coming here? I've been wanting to see that at least once."

None of them noticed how Citrine had gone so quiet.

Then all three of them tensed as they heard a voice call out.

"Citrine is that you!?"

Citrine felt an abyss begin to open in his stomach.

As the trio turned around to face two adults Citrine couldn't help the uneasy smile that came to him as he said "hi Mom, hi Dad."

* * *

**Author's Note: Alright so this chapter's posting along with the new bios for Pietro and Lee marks the end of my big super update which I began months ago. I hope you like the new chapter as I worked on a bit and sorry for the delay. I hope you liked my bad APPL. The next chapter may be a bit in coming as I have a new one shot coming up, some drawings and then a chapter of Shades of Pink but stuff may happen but chapter nine will be along. I do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form. My OC's are my own design. Reviews welcome.**


	9. Chapter 9

Stardust

Chapter 9

Familial Bonds

It was with no small amusement that Cerise watched as Citrine's parents swooped down upon him. Before him was a man and woman with skin complexion similar to Citrine's but slightly more tan. His father was slightly taller than him and had brown hair with blue eyes. His mother was slightly shorter than her husband with red hair and had Citrine's eyes.

Both seemed to be pleasant people if the way they treated to Citrine was an indication. Citrine for his part seemed to be soaking up the attention yet remained embarrassed.

Truth be told Cerise was a little jealous and a quick glance showed Titania looking at the scene with some emotions too.

Titania noticed Cerise looking at her and said "I'm a little jealous…"

Cerise just looked at her as the two talked completely ignoring Citrine's parents as they asked him the most embarrassing questions possible.

Cerise said "what do you mean?"

As Citrine's parents pinched his cheeks (his mom) and examined his body (his dad) Titania said "I was, am a foster kid I never really got to experience this."

Cerise slightly frowned at her and said "I know what that's like…"

"Not really." Cerise just looked at her while Citrine tried to subtly signal his teammates for help which didn't come as the two talked on.

"She might have vanished on you but at least you get some years of attention, I've never gotten that much. The only thing my family ever gave me was my name and what traits I have beyond that…" She trailed off.

Cerise looked down thoughtfully at the ground, what could he say to that? But at that moment Citrine decided to save himself and said "oh Mom, Dad! Look it's two of my teammates!"

Cerise and Titania blinked and came back to themselves just as Mr. and Mrs. Seeress swopped down upon them.

While Citrine's father examined Cerise, his mother gave Titania an even more appraising look as she asked if she was his girlfriend.

Citrine sputtered as his plan to throw his team under the bus backfired magnificently, and Titania reconsidered her thoughts just seconds ago.

A welcome diversion came when Citrine's father asked Cerise who he was.

"I'm Cerise Nebula, Citrine's partner."

Silence reigned as Mr. Seeress stared at him and Mrs. Seeress did too.

Cerise flushed and looked down self-consciously.

After a moment though Mr. Seeress had moved over and put a hand on his shoulder. Cerise looked at him and Citrine's mom smiled and nodded as he said "it's nice to meet you Cerise."

Cerise gave a shy smile and then asked "so what bring you to Harbor, Mr. and Mrs. Seeress?"

The two then spoke in unison "for our performance of course!"

Cerise and Titania traded looks confused before the girl asked "performance?"

The two laughed and Citrine blushed.

"Oh come now! You just saw a promo of us on the monitor!"

Titania blinked and then her eyes widened in recognition.

"Oh God, you're Blaze and Glitter!"

The two laughed and Cerise just blinked, while Citrine got even redder.

Cerise just blinked and stared at the two recalling what the monitor had shown. It was a performance of some kind called "The Wondrous Gems" and this "Blaze" and "Glitter" a man and a woman in what seemed to be garish costumes and hair but Cerise didn't understand what…

Cerise suddenly narrowed his eyes slightly as he focused on Citrine's parents and overlapped them with the necessary features and sure enough…

"You're Blaze and Glitter." Cerise said as a statement.

The two of them nodded.

The group of five walked down the street and Cerise asked what was on his mind.

"So you guys perform?"

Mr. Seeress nodded "yes we run a sort of circus."

Cerise then asked "what's a circus?"

The two adults looked at Cerise with surprise though Titania and Citrine though had actually expected this. By now they knew Cerise had little to no experience to things that were commonplace in the kingdoms.

Titania explained to Cerise what a circus was while Citrine muttered to his parents about Cerise growing up outside the kingdoms.

After a moment they continued on their way and Cerise asked "if a circus provokes such reactions out of people… isn't that a risk to security? With the Grimm and all I mean?"

"It can be but we make sure we can defend ourselves and our guests. Our animals are well trained and more than ready to fight if need be to."

Cerise and Titania gave a look to Citrine as now they knew why he could fight so well.

But then Cerise thought to ask "if you have such a career ready why become a huntsman?"

Titania had to stifle her laughter already knowing the answer but Cerise clearly had not noticed his partner's problem but it was about to be made clear.

"He has stage fright the poor dear" as Mrs. Seeress hugged a blushing Citrine while understanding now filled Cerise's eyes.

Mr. Seeress then added on "so since he couldn't handle crowd he wanted to do something though so he entered in a combat school."

Cerise looked at Citrine and asked his partner "so you really thought becoming a huntsman was a better alternative?"

Titania looked on with amusement as Citrine muttered "well I wanted to do something worthwhile and when my Semblance awakened…"

Cerise and Titania traded a look. They still doubted Citrine really did have clairvoyance given his name it both sounded plausible and doubtful.

Eventually a curious Titania asked "so where'd you get that deck of cards from anyway."

Citrine now somewhat back to a state of normalcy said "I found them at a trinket tradesman stall at fair."

"Ah." Cerise said.

From where she walked along Titania asked "you know what that is Cerise?"

She was half teasing, half serious.

Cerise just frowned. "I'm not that inept at knowledge inside the kingdoms Titania we did stop at villages from time to time when were younger."

Citrine then asked "when you were younger?"

Cerise sighed "we started avoiding villages when Uncle Silver took over the group only going near them when necessary. He called them a type of corruption to his congregation."

Cerise shook his head as Citrine and Titania traded looks.

From up ahead Mr. and Mrs. Seeress asked "so would you like to come to our show tonight?"

The trio looked at the adults, traded looks between each other exchanging shrugs and nods as one said "sure."

From there Citrine's parents learned of Smoke and extended an invitation to him as well. Thankfully they didn't question the trio's reactions with Cerise's face going dark while Titania and Citrine looked worried.

Still they reached out to Lighthouse academy for permission to be out late and to get ahold of Smoke.

Despite the faculties general stance on team CCTS (apparently blowing up that lab day one left a bad impression who knew?) they did get the green light.

Smoke wasn't reachable.

Titania strangely didn't seem surprised.

So the three went on and had a good time. They particularly got a kick out of Cerise's face trying cotton candy for the first time of all things.

And yet there was a certain prickle between the trio caused by Smoke's absence of all things.

If he was there things would have been tense between him and Cerise and yet his absence caused discomfort anyway.

Still they went on and had a nice night. When the show ended they went and saw Citrine's parents and met the rest of the troupe before heading back.

Getting to their dorm they saw Smoke was still absent.

Cerise didn't really say much just went out the door to get ready for bed.

Citrine and Titania traded a look before the boy asked "so what did you want to talk to me about Titania?"

She looked at Citrine and said "it's Smoke…"

One explanation later and the boy sat down on his bed looking aghast as he said "you're joking."

Titania shook her head and said "no, those Blanc twins are nothing but bad news, and it sound like they've got their claws deep into Smoke."

Citrine said "what should we do?"

Titania said "I don't know; it sounds like they're holding something over his head but I figured I should talk to you about this."

Citrine raised an eyebrow at her as he said "what about Cerise?"

Titania sighed "I don't know if Cerise would do anything about this team leader or no. Their reactions to each other have not been good as you well know. I was hoping you Semblance may help."

Citrine just shook his head and said "I'm not sure it can help…"

Titania just looked at him and said "then what do we do?"

Citrine said "I don't know."

The two of them just went silent neither of them aware that Cerise stood just out of sight by the door. He leaned against the hallway wall arms crossed orange eyes thoughtfully staring at the floor…

* * *

**Author's Note: Alright so at long last that was chapter nine. It was a measly four pages and very much filler, though it does give Citrine backstory which is the point so it works and after so long I'm just grateful to have gotten this do. Even if it does feel slightly off. I feel like such a doofus after all this time considering I call myself a RWBY fan and only just some time ago noticed the similarity between my team and the abbreviation for the cross-continental system. Volume 4's premiere also threw a slight monkey wrench in the works too as a Geist is more less my Anim albeit with dust energy and more modern items being used alog with some other details. I actually considered re-doing it but the Anim thing makes up he bulk of what Stardust is and I've gone too far to turn back now. So it's just as well I made this AU so I'll decide what to do about Geist's at a later date. For now I hope you like this chapter. The next update for this or any of my projects probably won't be till next month due to a break I'm kinda taking you can check my DA page for the journal on Nov 1st or my Tumblr post for details but I'm probably going to be distracted this month while I plot, scheme, deal with school and other facets of my life. I do not own RWBY in any, way, shape,or form my OC's are my own design. Reviews welcome.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: alright so as part of my New Years resolution here is the first chapter towards completing Stardust at long last. This chapter isn't much but it keeps the story going. I could of taken this chapter a bit further but it didn't feel right to do so. I'm also a bit worried at how the ending of this chapter looks but I think it works. Also given recent revelations about Remnant I made some edits so Smoke just has wolf ears now. Not much else to say. For updates on how my stuff is coming along check my DeviantArt page or Tumblr. I do not own RWBY in any, way, shape, or form. My OC's are my own. Reviews welcome.**

* * *

Stardust

Chapter 10

Handling

The next morning had team CCTS sitting in the dining hall. All four of them were in rather depressed moods as they picked at breakfast then a voice barked out suddenly "Seeress, Reaglia, NEBULA!"

Citrine, Titania, and Cerise all winced and all together CCTS watched as Professor Rust stomped down the aisle and all four just withstood the storm before them as he barked "you three got back too close to curfew last night! You need to be more punctual! I don't care about your reasons is that understood!?"

The trio chorused back "yes professor." They watched as he stomped down the aisle while Smoke looked on bewilderedly.

"You guys were out late last night?" He asked.

Citrine nodded, Cerise gave a single nod, and Titania said "yup, Citrine's parents were in town and gave us tickets to The Wondrous Gems last night!"

Smoke blinked taken aback before he mumbled "I've heard that show is really good…"

Titania looked at him and said "well you COULD have come too but"

"I was busy." Smoke cut her off while looking down.

Smoke didn't notice how Titania and Citrine traded looks and none of the three noticed Cerise looking at Smoke thoughtfully before looking around the hall and catching sight of four certain individuals.

Team APPL.

Cerise observed them from a distance in particular how the "Blanc Twins" talked and interacted with each other. Cerise also took note how the other two responded to their treatments, one being sheepish and the other stoic.

Cerise watched as the twins then left the table and took note how the brown haired boy reassured the blonde boy who seemed more relaxed now. Then the brown haired boy looked up suddenly as if picking up on Cerise's gaze but by then Cerise had turned his attentions to his food his mind now made up.

(CCTS)

Meanwhile Professor Rust was walking across the campus of Lighthouse. He seemed normal but there was a sort of stiffness in him that was tangible to those who knew him. A fact that became evident when a male voice spoke up.

"You need to let this go Rust."

The teacher stopped and looked behind him at the speaker.

It was Ao.

"Is that any way to talk to someone who was once your teacher?" He asked.

Ao replied "it is when they are A) my colleague and B) in the wrong." Rust made an exasperated noise and kept walking as Ao followed right behind.

"I'm serious Rust it's not fair for you to treat Cerise like this just because of Clare."

Rust huffed and stopped short as a female spoke ahead "don't bother Ao. I've already tried to convince him, twice."

Rust looked ahead at Headmistress Blank who stared at him with those sightless eyes.

Rust sighed and looked at Ao saying "do we have any data on the Crushed's recent activity?"

Ao and Blank traded looks this time and Ao said "I haven't had much luck though I did hear something odd about something one of their speakers said in town recently but haven't had a chance to confirm it myself."

Rust snorted and stomped off saying "I have papers to grade then. Call me when its serious."

The two of them traded looks as Ao said "so when are you going to bring the hammer down on the Blanc twins?"

Blank looked at him and said "soon. I've been in touch with Citadel. They've been aware of Lieutenant Blanc's corruption as well as several others but they have to handle it carefully otherwise it could blow up in their faces. As soon as they say so though I intend to reign them in. Maybe even rearrange APPL."

Ao looked thoughtful though as if he wanted to say more.

Meanwhile inside the cafeteria Smoke had left his teammates early.

Overserving the way Citrine and Titania were whispering Cerise sighed his mind now made up.

Ao then said "and you don't think Smoke's team might try and help him?"

Cerise stopped his teammates and said some words making their jaws drop.

Blank replied "I doubt it, ever since their formation CCTS has been slightly unsteady."

Titania meanwhile with an upset look on her face asked him a question to which he replied calmly taking Titania by surprise, Citrine too for that matter.

"I don't know Blank, if Cerise is anything like Clare he might do something."

Titania now calmer then asked Cerise something else to which he replied astonishing the two of them.

"You mean like that one prank your team pulled your freshmen year? I don't think they're the types to do something like that Ao."

The two of them walked away talking about some reports at that point while in the cafeteria Titania had a pleased look on her face, Cerise looked resolved, and Citrine looked nervous but willing to what was going to happen next…


	11. Chapter 11

Stardust

Chapter 11

Actions

Titania set her supplies down on bed with a thump while Smoke looked on. As Titania perused the various smuggled objects she asked Cerise over her shoulder "are you sure this will work?"

From his desk Cerise looked up from the notes he and Citrine had been studying and said "not really but this is the best thing I can think to do at the moment and we don't have time to spend."

At this Citrine said "remind me why we aren't going to the proper authorities for this again?"

Cerise sighed with the air of having gone over this many times by now "I told you guys already this is a matter regarding team CCTS and as such we should handle it."

Holding up various items for as if to check for faultiness Titania cheekily said "then explain how come the situation between you and Smoke hasn't been handled by the team?"

Cerise shot her a glare one that she ignored before he sighed and said "this and that are two different things, sort of."

Taking a moment Cerise said "in this case doing this is about making a statement…" Cerise trailed off as he recalled a certain memory.

_A 6-year-old Cerise watched from behind the adults as his mother along with the rest of the adults chased off the last bandits. _

_As Cerise watched them run away he frowned. Some of them bore pretty bad injuries that he had noticed his mother had inflicted._

_It wasn't the blood that got to him sadly even by this age he learned fighting was a necessity in Remnant considering how the Grimm destroy nearly anything, human and faunas included, but still those wounds seemed unnecessary._

_Cerise would have asked his mom why she made those strikes but their small group went on the move immediately just in case reinforcements were a possibility._

_As such it was late, really late when Cerise was finally given the chance to talk to his mom and technically he wasn't supposed to be._

"_Mom?" The tired child asked surprising the woman standing watch at the edge of the camp._

_Turning Clare smiled at Cerise who stood there looking at her._

"_Cerise? What are you doing up my little shooting star? You should be asleep back in our tent?"_

_Cerise looked back at the camp before looking at her and mumbling "wanted to talk to you."_

_His mother looked like she wanted to send him back to bed but seeing him standing there something bothering him brought out her motherly instincts._

_Holding her arms, Cerise gave a small smile before walking over to and Clare pulled him close and snuggled together the two looked over the boundary Clare guarded in silence for a few moments before Clare asked "what's bothering you sweetie?"_

"_It's about what happened today…"_

_Clare looked at Cerise and said "did that scare you?"_

_Cerise shook his head and said "no… Or no more than usual." Which was a horrifying statement to a point but again Cerise had grown up knowing combat was a dominant factor in his life._

_Clare tilted her head and said "then what's wrong?"_

_Cerise let out a breath and said "you hurt the bandits."_

_Clare looked at him confused and said "they were attacking us."_

_He shook his head. "Not what I meant you hurt them more then was… needed?" Cerise trailed off not sure what he was trying to get at it but Clare winced as she understood what he was talking about and more importantly what he was trying to ask._

"_You're wondering why I did more damage then was necessary?"_

_Cerise stopped his pondering and nodded. _

_Clare said nothing for a moment before she sighed._

"_Cerise I made those wounds because they were retreating to be amongst themselves or worse get aid from whatever allies they may have and in both cases those wounds serve a point."_

_Cerise looked up at his mother and from the way her eyes were focused Cerise could tell she was paying attention to both her surroundings but also something else…_

_Eventually though Cerise got curious and asked "what point mom?"_

_Clare looked down at him broken from her reverie and said "it sends a message."_

_Cerise blinked "message?"_

_Clare nodded and said "Cerise when you're with a group of people whether it's just me and you or those we've gathered with us it's important to look after them."_

_Cerise blinked "and those injuries really send a message that helps look after everyone?"_

_His mom nodded and looked at him with an expression of solemnity stating "yup those injuries make a statement that say mess with me and mine and pay the price and when it comes to those who do you harm that can make all the difference..."_

Looking back now Cerise saw that mom knew what she was talking about, then he didn't really understand the why but now?

He could see how and why she knew what she was talking about.

Now he had to do the same.

Citrine broke him from his musing by saying "you know we could get in a lot of trouble for this right? Maybe even expelled."

Cerise looked at his partner and said "that is a possibility but I have my doubts, worst case scenario is we get punished. Heavily." He added as an afterthought.

Titania shrewdly asked "and if we do get expelled? I don't really have a home to go back to if all goes south."

Cerise looked the two of them over and gestured all around them as he said "worst case scenario we head for life outside the Kingdoms and we'll live off doing odd jobs I've got some experience in such things to a poin or maybe even Citrine's parents will take us in. I have no intention of leaving you out to dry."

Titania met Cerise's gaze and nodded then she looked at the supplies on the bed and said "well shall we set our little surprise up?"

(Stardust)

The next day at lunch Smoke stopped eating tiredly when he noticed his team was being really tense for some reason they even had their weapons on hand.

Smoke blinked and then his eyes narrowed _wait a minute…_ The wolf thought. _Why are they carrying their weapons on hand outside of a combat class? We aren't allowed to do that._

Then from within the school there was a boom and a slight thud. Smoke blinked as he noticed all three of them freeze up before directing their attention to the cafeteria door and just beyond they could hear yelling.

Then the door slammed open and Smoke honestly gaped at the sight before him.

It was the Blanc twins and they were DRENCHED in goo complete with a matching odor.

"CCTS!" The twins screamed.

Smoke just stared but that only lasted for a second as Cerise, and Citrine stood up from the table and Titania flipped over the table to join them her wings materializing on her back as she did so to aid her in landing behind them.

Then all of them were ready for battle. Titania wings spread, daggers gripped, Citrine halberd held at the ready, and finally Cerise fan open in his right and glyph spinning on his left. Smoke's face blanched in horror though when he realized that the twins were holding their weapons too.

And the horror got worse as the two groups charged each other ready to brawl.

Luckily they were within ten feet of each other when there was a blur of red-brown light and suddenly Professor Rust stood there a fist pointed at each group and everyone froze in mortal terror.

His eyes were practically burning with anger and he was seething.

No one moved until he barked making them all jump.

"CCTS!" He looked over at the Blanc twins and more importantly Pietro and Lee who had arrived on the scene by that point (although Lee was cowering slightly behind Pietro who merely stood, braced for what was to come).

"APPL!"

The other team looked at the teacher though Angelo and Parker Blanc still kept the corner of their hateful gazes fixed on Cerise, Citrine, and Titania.

Professor Rust though focused all of them on a new objective when he said "principal's office… NOW."

(Stardust)

So the group of eight stood in front of the principal's desk with professor Rust right beside her still seething. If one didn't know any better though he could swear Principal Blank was somewhat amused which was a stark contrast compared to the status of the eight students present.

Cerise, Titania, and Pietro were resolved.

Angelo and Parker were still pissed.

Citrine and Lee were nervous.

Smoke was confused

"So…" Professor Blank leaned forward "do you mind telling me what caused this altercation?"

Angelo still covered in goo stepped forward and snarled "team CCTS just did this to us for no reason!"

Titania piped in here saying "we did not!"

Professor Blank turned that gaze immediately on her and for what it was worth she shrank back only slightly as she said "oh then what was the cause of all this?"

Here Cerise stepped forward saying "if I may professor?" At her nod Cerise continued and despite the weight of her gaze Cerise did not falter as he said "we did what we did for the sake of defense. Angelo and Parker Blanc have been harassing my teammate Smoke Carver, which we have proof of" Cerise went stopping potetinal protest before it could start on his eyes burning as he tossed a look at the Blanc twins pulling out his scroll which proceeded to extend and pull up the corresponding evidence with the press of a button.

Cerise turned his attention back to the teachers as he said "with the school seemingly unaware of what was going on. This also being a matter between our teams and at a loss for what to do I felt it best to take this stance." He took in a breath before saying "and as team leader I take full responsibility for this."

At this Smoke looked on wide eyed in a gaping silence as Citrine and Titania both piped up with protests while Cerise tried to glare them into submission.

It didn't work very well.

After two more minutes Professor Rust silenced them all with a barked "SETTLE DOWN!"

Everyone immediately went quiet and stared at the teachers who merely waited silently for a moment before Professor Blank said "contrary to what you may think Mr. Nebula we became aware of what Mr. and Ms. Blanc were up towards the end of their first year. We were merely waiting for the right moment to handle it."

She let everyone take that in for a moment then said "and while this isn't quite what I had in mind it will have to do. I'll relive some tension now by saying no one is to be expelled." Ignoring the "unfortunately" Professor Rust muttered under his breath Professor Blank went on to say "instead all of you are to punished."

"Heavily punished" Professor Rust interjected to which Professor Blank merely gave him a look before saying "the details of which will be sent to your scrolls later. However, since it is clear that some matters regarding team APPL need handling and for the sake of the team CCTS's minds we shall do it now."

Team APPL all looked slightly nervous at these words even Pietro's stoic expression warped slightly as Professor Blank simply said "Angelo Blanc you are no longer the leader of team APPL that position is to be given to Mr. Brown furthermore since it is clear you and your sister work well together" at this everyone could hear the disapproval in her tone "you will be partnered together despite the hopes I had for you two learning to work with others. So as a result Mr. Weed you are grouped with your team leader now."

She let this sink in for a moment before saying "you are all dismissed."

Everyone nodded and went to move before and as they did Angelo said "c'mon sis we need to talk to dad."

Everyone present noticed the way Smoke stiffened at this and it is then that Professor Blank said "oh do give my condolences to your father please."

Everyone paused at this and it was Parker who spoke saying "condolences?"

Professor Blank and with a wave brought up a holographic screen showing a piece of news saying "apparently there was some sort of scandal back in your home kingdom involving the army. Apparently your father and many others were removed from positions of power. Something about corruption I guess. Mr. Carver I believe your father and those under him were shuffled about to new positions after being investigated. You would do well to call him."

The eight students froze at the sudden words as various unspoken words and explanations about motives behind actions became clear.

And then there was a shift in the atmosphere as Smoke gave a look predatory look towards his former bullies. Cerise and Titania took on somewhat smug looks. Citrine showed happiness and relief. Lee looked nervous and there was something almost amused in Pietro's expression.

As for the Blanc twins well from their faces to their postures everyone could practically hear them thinking "oh. Hell."

(APPL)

As team CTTS headed out to their dormitory Smoke pulled Titania off to the side. He struggled to speak for a moment before asking "How did you manage to get Cerise to go along with this?"

Titania just looked at him. "Uh… He was the one who organized all this." Smoke's mouth dropped.

She just nodded. "He found out what was going on, still not sure how. He came to us for help."

"Why would he come to us?"

Titania merely smiled and said "Now that's a question for him."

And so it was for that very reason that Smoke sought out Cerise that night and eventually found himself on one of the rooftops of the dorms watching Cerise get some air. Eventually though he made his presence known. Seeing Smoke just watching him Cerise looked at him and after a moment said "you want something?"

Smoke fidgeted. "So Titania told me that you uh were the one who uh…" Smoke trailed off, feeling Cerise's eyes burrowing into him.

"Organized the plan to save you and stop the Blanc Twins? Yes."

Under the gaze of those orange eyes Smoke fidgeted. He had never felt this way before ever. Though he eventually managed to get out a word.

"Why?"

Cerise merely raised an eyebrow and said "because you're my teammate and as leader I needed to defend my own."

Smoke was gaping at his teammate who merely turned back to looking at the sky.

Stuttering the wolf faunas got out "but y-you're.." before Cerise cut "traitor stock, the son of Clare Nebula? Yeah I am but there's something you need to know Smoke."

Turning to his left he walked a few feet before turning to his side so that he was partially facing Smoke before saying "I may be her son and she's nearly all that has influenced me in my life but even with that said there's something you need to know about me. I am not her! Do not judge me for something I had no choice in."

Cerise looked down and at that moment the wind blew past sending the hair steaming away from his face while Smoke looked on.

After a moment Smoke said "I… owe you an apology."

Cerise looked at Smoke who said somewhat sheepishly, "Growing up in a military family and also being a wolf faunas, I learned about being loyal to the pack. When I considered what your mother's done and the 'why's'. Well…I overstepped my boundaries. Me judging you for your mother's actions is like you judging me for being a faunas. I'm sorry."

Cerise looked at Smoke and let out a breath, "Apology accepted."

"You know though," Smoke bit his lip. "I'm not going to be the only one who'll end up judging you like that."

Cerise nodded, "I'm very aware of this fact but the people who get to know me, like my team and the teachers, they shouldn't judge me for those things."

Neither boy was aware of it but their conversation was not private. Professor Rust was watching on his scroll and hearing these words he let out a sigh and looked away only to barge right into the knowing faces of Professor Blank and Ao which proceeded to make him look away with a scowl.

(CCTS)

The next day in combat class team CCTS was sitting in the bleachers watching the proceedings and when the current match was over they looked on as Professor Rust looked at his scroll.

Looking up the man looked at team CCTS and braced themselves for his loud voice to call out and sure enough.

"Nebula!"

Cerise blinked at the teacher as he said "you're up." Cerise got up and went down and she did he noticed something was… different about the way Professor Rust was treating him then before.

And for some reason the concept made him elated.

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**Author's Note: alright ladies and gents all long last Stardust goes on with a new chapter. This chapter took a while to get done because I was having a hard time getting going and once I did I ran into new complications but still I managed to get it done. Thanks goes to my friend Ashski of DeviantArt who helped me out with the final passage which turned out a little unstable but I think it's smoothed out. Not much else to say just yet. I hope you like the chapter. I do not own RWBY in any, way, shape, or form. My OC's are my own. Reviews welcome.**


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